Soul Mate
by JAZZIES-GIRL
Summary: Draco is a Veela. When he finds out his mate's Harry who's straight and in love with Ginny Weasley he decides not to pursue him thinking he would only cause him unhappiness. Will a persistent portrait Draco's Veela instinct and a love potion unite them?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So this is a new story with a plot that's been used thousands of times. I'm so original :P NOT! Disclaimer: I'm only gonna say this once so listen close, I'm a pony...no wait, that's not what I wanted to say. I don't own Harry Potter. There...that's what I wanted to say.**

**Hope you enjoy this :D Happy reading :)**

My name is Draco Malfoy and I'm a Veela. I've been one my entire life but it's really easy to blend in with the everyday wizard. Our skin is paler and has a slightly silver undertone and our hair is extremely blond but it's easy to blend in, until our seventeenth birthday, that is.

On our seventeenth birthday we come into our inheritance. Full powers and all the 'benefits'. Including a soul mate. A completely unwanted soul mate.

Just the thought of that ruined the day before my seventeenth birthday. Blaise, my best friend since we were both on training brooms, tried to cheer me up. He brought over his broom and we flew to France where he paid for a nice dinner. After eating we flew back home where we sat in my room and drank my parents' Firewhiskey.

The next morning Blaise was sprawled across the bed in the guest room. I cradled my head in my hands and walked down the hall to my own room. I opened my closet doors and stared at the robes my parents had given me the day before.

My parents were waiting for me in the Dining Room. Breakfast was waiting at the table and there was an extra place set for Blaise. My parents had never liked the fact that Blaise was my best friend but I suppose that they were letting me have my one last day with him before I came into my inheritance.

As it happens, Blaise is a Dark Veela and Veelas don't get along with Dark Veelas at all. My parents tried to tell me this when I befriended him at Wizarding DayCare but I had refused to listen to them. Ever since then we had been the best of friends. Our parents had never liked each other but we never cared. Deep down, though, we had known that our friendship had an expiration date.

"Where is Mr. Zabini?" My father asked. I rolled my eyes. I could never recall him actually saying Blaise's name.

"He's still asleep." I stood uncertainly by my chair at the large table. The thought of food made me sick to my stomach. "I'll go wake him."

Blaise rolled to the other side of the bed as I nudged his shoulder. "Five more minutes." He mumbled into the pillow.

"Come on Blaise. You know I don't know the Hangover Spell and I have a pounding headache."

My dark haired friend cracked an eye open and looked up at me. "Still friends?"

I sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Still friends. Until tonight anyway."

He put a hand on my shoulder and smiled softly. "Well then let's make the best of our last day together."

"That's what I plan on doing as soon as you get rid of this bloody headache." I grinned back at him but there was misery beating in my chest as I did so. Thinking of this as my last day with Blaise hurt deeply. He'd always been there for me and I'd always been there for him. To know that that was all ending tonight hurt worse than anything I had ever felt before.

It was around five o'clock that evening when Blaise finally had to leave. I walked him to the Floo where we stood awkwardly until he pulled me into his arms and hugged me tight. "I'm going to miss you." He said when we both finally pulled away.

I wanted to tell him that I'd miss him too, but I knew it'd be a lie. I knew that as soon as I inherited all of the 'benefits' of being a Veela I wouldn't care about Blaise anymore. Instead I said, "I already miss you." I felt bad that he wouldn't feel the same repulsion towards me as I would towards him. It would make the pain so much greater for him than it was for me at that moment.

"Hey," Blaise punched me lightly in the shoulder, "maybe we'll be different."

I nodded but I could tell that he didn't believe it any more than I did.

"I'm so sorry Dragon." My mother tried to comfort me as I returned to the Dining Room for supper. I pushed her arms away and took my seat at the table.

Supper passed in silence and as soon as I had finished eating I rose. "If you'll excuse me I'm rather tired."

"Goodnight Dragon." My father hardly ever called me that. I nodded to him and allowed a small smile to grace my lips.

In my room I locked the door and buried my face into my feather pillows. Tears began to flow freely. I cried because I was losing Blaise, my best friend. I cried because tomorrow would officially be the start of my search for my soul mate. I cried because I didn't even get a say in any of this. But most of all I cried because I was scared, scared of the future.

**A/N: Review? Please? Even though I know you've probably read a thousand stories just like this one...**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Yay! Chapter two! Happy reading :D**

I woke up in the morning feeling different, yet strangely the same. Deep down in my stomach there was this strange feeling that I've never felt before. It was some kind of clawing, gnawing _need_. I ignored it as I swung my legs over the side of my bed and crossed my room in three lazy steps.

Wait, three? Usually it took me at least five to get to my wardrobe. I threw open the wooden door and took a look at myself in the mirror hanging on the other side. Instead of standing at a respectable 5'8 I looked to be about 5'11. My hair had grown past my shoulders and the sunlight streaming through the windows made it shine silver. My eyes, normally a very light blue, now held more of a grey hue. My skin almost seemed to sparkle in the sunlight.

As much as I'd changed, I still felt like the same person I'd always been. When I thought about Blaise there was no hatred that flared or disgust that turned my stomach. I still knew that I didn't want a soul mate, even though I knew that's what I needed to stop the feeling in the pit of my stomach. All in all, I felt like two different people trapped in the same body. It even seemed as if I were thinking two different things at once, like I had two minds whirring at the same time, each trying to outthink the other.

A knock at my door interrupted my internal war. "Dragon, are you alright?" My mother called through the thick mahogany. I chose not to answer as I tore my eyes from the mirror hanging on the door of my wardrobe. "Breakfast will be on the table in ten minutes. Your father and I would like to talk to you about school next year."

Rage filled the human half of my mind. What did she mean they wanted to talk to me about school? Surely they were not taking me away from Hogwarts.

_If it will help find my mate then I don't care._ The Veela thought and my hands tightened into fists around the robes that I had just taken from my wardrobe. My mind went to war against itself and I could feel a headache coming on.

Breakfast started out tense and silent. I used my fork to push my eggs around my plate. Several times my father cleared his throat but he never said anything. My mother kept looking from me to my father. Finally I set my fork down. "You wanted to speak to me about school?"

"Yes." There was another long silence. "As you know you have one year to find your mate. If your mate is not attending Hogwarts with you then you will be wasting valuable time there. Your mother and I are willing to give you three weeks there. If you have not found your mate by then your mother and I are prepared to take you out of school and travel with you from country to country until you find her."

I stared down at my plate. My father had it all wrong. For one, I didn't want a mate. It pissed my Veela off to no end but the human part of me would rather die than be forced into a relationship with someone. For another, it definitely wouldn't be a female. "Him, Father, until I find him."

An uncomfortable silence settled over the room. "How are you supposed to provide an heir?" My father whispered but the sound carried easily across the room.

"I'll find a way Father." The words came out of my mouth but it was the Veela talking. "But the most important thing to me right now is simply finding him."

As I finally shut the bloody Veela up, Father nodded. "Of course, I remember what it was like to be seventeen and longing for your mate." Mother smiled at me warmly from across the table but the rest of breakfast passed in uncomfortable silence.

Two weeks later I found myself in a compartment by myself on the Hogwarts' Express. Ever since I woke up the morning after my birthday, Blaise and I had been corresponding through letters. His birthday had come and passed a few days after mine. He admitted that he didn't feel any hatred towards me afterwards but now, meeting face to face, would be the real test.

The compartment door slid open and I looked up. Theodore Nott stood there with his trunk behind him. He smirked. For me, his silence said everything. He accepted what I was and how it had changed me and that was all I needed to know. Well, that and the fact that he wasn't my mate. As soon as he had opened the door I had known. His scent was just…wrong. Too spicy, not sweet enough.

Shortly after Theo sat down across from me, Pansy came rushing through the compartment door and threw herself into his lap. "Theo! I've missed you!" She started babbling on about the various countries she visited with her parents while I just sat back and watched with a smile.

Crabbe and Goyle arrived next. Thankfully, neither of them were my mate. They both sat down next to Theo and Pansy, who was still on Theo's lap.

My friends were all there, except for Blaise. The train began moving and Blaise still hadn't appeared. Theo was the first to say anything about it after he pulled his attention off of his girlfriend for a few moments. "Where's Blaise?" Crabbe and Goyle shrugged their burly shoulders. Theo looked at me. "Is it because of the…?"

I shook my head. "It shouldn't be." Just after I finished speaking, a horrible scent appeared in the air. I looked up and saw Blaise standing in the doorway of the compartment with a look of disgust on his face. "Blaise, you reek, what have you been doing?"

He laughed. "I reek? You smell as if you've been dipped headfirst in the Bog of Eternal Stench."

The two of us smiled at each other while our friends looked on in amusement. "Still friends?" I asked quietly enough for only him to hear.

"Of course." He whispered back and the Hufflepuff moment was over.

As he closed the compartment door, the most wonderful smell masked every other scent in the compartment. I rushed to the door and threw it open; looking up and down the hallway, but no one was there. Blaise came up next to me. "Was it him?" I nodded.

The rest of the train ride went without sight or sniff of my mate. When we arrived at Hogwarts and I stepped off the train into the crowd, I could smell him again. His scent was strong and sweet, it reminded me of apples and raspberries sprinkled with cinnamon. My Veela purred with excitement and glee. He was here, my mate was here and he was close.

**A/N: Review?**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I totally forgot that I had finished this chapter a few days ago and never posted it! Well, here it is :D I hope y'all like it!**

Light suddenly invaded my bed. "Go 'way Blaise. I wanna sleep." I rolled over and pulled my blankets up over my face. They were forcefully ripped from my hands and I sighed. "What do you want?" I whined. I was definitely not a morning person by any stretch of the imagination.

Blaise sighed. "I want you to get up so that we can go get our schedules from Snape." I could practically hear the grin on his face. "Then I want you to join me in a little soul mate searching."

I sat up and glared at my friend. "No."

He frowned. "But," He looked at me with large eyes that were beginning to tear up, "I want to find my mate." It was so hard for anyone to resist that face, even me.

(+)(+)(+)

"So, you really don't feel like there's another person living in your body with you?" I asked Blaise on our way to the Great Hall to get our schedules.

Blaise shook his head. "Why, do you?" I nodded. "Maybe that's because you haven't fully accepted that you're a Veela." I frowned at him. "Look, Draco, I've never been upset or angered with the fact that I'm a Veela like you've always been. From a young age I saw how in love my parents were with each other and I can't remember wanting anything more than I wanted someone to love and love me like that."

I remained silent for the remainder of the walk. I knew that my parents loved each other very much. However, they preferred not to let the public see them as anything but distant lest their closeness be used as a weakness against them. Unfortunately, I was considered a part of the public to them.

When we reached the Great Hall I could smell my mate again. Thankfully, there was too much of a crowd to pinpoint which person the mouthwatering scent was coming from. The Veela trilled happily. I frowned and pushed through the crowd so that I could get up to where Professor Snape was handing out schedules at the Head Table.

I got to the Head Table, pushing in front of some very small first years, and noticed that Blaise was no longer next to me. "I smell them Draco." He told me as I handed him his schedule. "They're in here."

"Blaise," I rolled my eyes, "half the school is in here." My Veela was about in the same state that Blaise was though. It wanted to follow that scent until it found out who my mate was. Part of me, the normal me, wouldn't mind that either. Blaise smelt worse than rotten eggs left out in the midsummer sun. However, whenever my mate was nearby, his scent covered up everything else in the room.

Suddenly, the apple and raspberry scent faded and I was left with various scents all topped by Blaise's scent of rotten fish and last week's garbage. Blaise turned around. "No offense Draco, but I think I'm gonna go look for my mate alone." He looked back at me with a pained expression on his face. "Sorry, but your smell is making me sick to my stomach."

I nodded, not offended in the slightest. In fact, I was a little relieved. This meant that I could go straight back down to the Slytherin Common Room instead of searching for my mate. I knew that the scent issue would have an effect on our friendship though. It was hard for both of us to stay in the same room as each other for more than half an hour. Luckily, we rarely had any classes together because our interests were in completely different subjects. There would still be some classes, however, where we'd just have to suck it up and tolerate each other's scent for the entire hour.

(+)(+)(+)

That afternoon, Blaise came bursting into the Common Room, a silly grin on his face. "I'm assuming you found your mate." I said without looking up from my book.

Blaise sat down next to me and I instantly crinkled my nose. "No, I haven't found them yet, but I came so close so many times." He moved a little further away from me on the couch. "Whoever my mate is, they have the most wonderful scent. It's like chocolate and rain but there's just a hint of something else that I can't quite put my finger on."

I nodded and made sure that no one else was in the Common Room before saying. "That's really great Blaise. I'm happy for you."

My friend grinned at me. "Thanks. Doesn't this just make you want to go out and find your mate?" He batted his long eyelashes at me.

I narrowed my eyes. "No Blaise. Nothing on this planet could make me want to go find my mate."

The Dark Veela shrugged. "Well that's too bad, because you're going to go looking anyway." Blaise stood and pulled me off of the couch. "You, Draco Malfoy, are not allowed back in this Common Room until after dinner."

"That's in four hours." I protested as I was shoved out of the Common Room. Blaise just shrugged and slammed the portrait shut. "Bastard." I mumbled as I left the dungeons and headed for the Entrance Hall.

It was the perfect day to sit by the lake. The sun was shining but there were puffy white clouds in the sky and it wasn't too hot. I leaned against a tree and stared out at the surface of the water. If only I hadn't dropped my book when Blaise had pulled me off of the couch. I watched the Giant Squid sun himself on the surface of the water and laughed to myself as he was splashed by a couple of Hufflepuff seventh years who were swimming nearby.

Dinner came soon enough. I slowly walked to the Great Hall and knew as soon as I entered that my mate was in there. The problem was that every single student in the entire school was in that room so there was no way of singling my mate out. Wait? Problem? That wasn't a problem that was a blessing. I reached the Slytherin table and looked between the open seat across from Blaise and the open seat next to Pansy further down the table.

As I passed Blaise I whispered, "Watermelon." It had started when we were no older than seven. We had gotten in an argument over something stupid but we had both been too stubborn to apologize to each other. The next time we had to communicate was at Wizarding DayCare. We were having our morning snack and I had wanted a slice of watermelon but it was just out of my reach. I looked at Blaise who just looked back at me with his dark eyes. "Watermelon?" He asked. I nodded, "Watermelon." And then we were no longer fighting. Ever since then, instead of saying sorry to each other, we apologized by simply saying watermelon.

(+)(+)(+)

"So did you find him?" Blaise asked that night as we entered the Common Room. I shook my head. "Did you even look?"

I stopped at the staircase leading down to the boys' dormitories. "Of course I looked. I searched the whole castle bottom to top to find the soul mate that I've never wanted." Sarcasm dripped from my words almost tangibly.

Blaise frowned and punched me in the arm, hard. I glared at him and 'gently' nudged him with my shoulder as I started down the stairs. He pushed me into the wall as he past me and when we reached the door to the seventh year dormitories I 'accidentally' hit him in the side with the door as I opened it. "Bastard." He said, rubbing where the door handle had hit him.

"Git." I shot back as I inspected my arm.

"Pansy."

"Pussy licker."

"Cocksucker."

"Proud of it."

Blaise chuckled and pointed his finger past me. "But I meant Pansy as in Parkinson as in she's standing right behind you."

I turned and saw Pansy standing at the door, a smirk on her face. "It's good to see that you two are getting along." I grinned and hugged her. My Veela protested to the show of affection to this girl who wasn't my mate but I ignored it. "I just came up here to remind the two of you that as seventh years it's our duty to plan the Slytherin Halloween Party and tell you that we're gonna have a quick meeting to discuss it in the Common Room."

The three of us went back up to the Common Room. "Alright," Theo said, wrapping his arms around Pansy, "what do we want the theme to be this year? We'll decide on that tonight and then everything else can be saved for a later date."

Everyone sat in silence for a while. The theme of the party didn't decide much, just basically set guidelines for what costumes would be worn. "What about 17th century?" Draco imagined all the girls dressing as slutty barmaids and shook his head, along with a few of the girls. A few more suggestions were called out. Everyone finally ended up agreeing on Supernatural.

I grinned to myself as I slid into bed. My costume would be easy. All I'd have to do is dress in silver and let my wings out. As soon as the last Slytherin slid into bed, the lights went out and I settled into an easy sleep with unsettling dreams of green.

**A/N: Well? Review? Plz? Waffles?**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: hello all! so here's chapter four :) hope you like it :) Thanks for reading :)**

It was the first day of classes. I woke to the sound of five alarms going off at once. There wasn't a single bone in my body that wanted to wake up and leave my dreams but once I was fully conscious, I couldn't remember what they had been about.

"Up and at 'em!" Blaise ripped open the green curtains that surrounded my bed, his stench permeating the air. "We've got Potions first thing after breakfast."

I rolled over and pulled my pillow over my head, trying to block out both the light and the smell. "'M not hungry." I mumbled as Blaise pulled my makeshift shield away.

The bed dipped as my best friend sat down on the edge. "I dreamt about her last night." He said and I looked up at him. "I never saw her face." He continued. "She was always running so far ahead of me."

I pulled myself into a sitting position and tried to ignore the stink that hung around Blaise. "That's great, I'm really happy for you. I swear to Merlin that I am, but please, I don't want to think about mates right now. I don't want to think about them ever."

Blaise's face fell. "Draco, you have to accept the fact that you're a Veela and that you have a mate. If you don't you'll be unhappy for the rest of your life. Draco where are you going?" He asked as I stood up.

"I'm going to get ready for breakfast." I grumbled angrily.

The moment I stepped into the Great Hall next to Blaise, his attention shifted from our conversation. He froze and turned his face up, inhaling deeply. "She's here." He whispered to me. I held his arm as he tried to walk towards the other end of the hall. "Let me go Draco, I have to find her."

I forced him over to the Slytherin table with me. "Not right now you don't." I told him as I pushed him down into his seat. "Right now you need to eat breakfast so that we can get to Potions on time." He grumbled but filled his plate with pancakes and French toast.

It wasn't a terribly long walk to the Potions lab from the Great Hall but it felt like it took hours to get there while Blaise went on and on about his mate. I was ready to punch him when we finally walked into the lab and took our seats across the room from each other. A few Ravenclaws entered the lab followed by a single Hufflepuff and three Gryffindors, Potter, Granger, and Finnegan.

Suddenly, all I could smell was apples, raspberries, and cinnamon. The thin line that seemed to cross my body and separate me from the Veela began to ebb. I began to look frantically around the room, searching for the source of the mouthwatering smell. Blaise, I saw well I was looking around, was doing the same thing. Our eyes met and he grinned. I frowned. This was not what I wanted.

Professor Slughorn entered the room and began the lesson but with my mate's scent all around me I had trouble focusing. Blaise cornered me after class, his eyes wild with the scent of his mate. "You are coming with me at lunch." He said. "I don't care what you say or how much you complain, both our mates were in there. We are so close to finding them."

Anger flared up inside me. "I don't want to find my mate. What don't you understand about that Blaise?" I kicked the wall next to me. "I'm perfectly happy on my own. I never asked to be a Veela and I never asked for a mate."

Blaise frowned at me, his eyes narrowed. "I'm sure you are perfectly happy without a mate but I know that you can feel the unhappiness of your Veela side. I know that you can feel the pain it's going through no matter how hard you try to suppress it."

I hated arguing with Blaise but he was being impossible. It wasn't like I wasn't happy for him for almost finding his mate, because I really was. It was his decision and I respected it. Why couldn't he do the same for me?

(+)(+)(+)

Lunch came and I decided that I wasn't hungry. Instead of going to the Great Hall after Arithmacy I chose to take a walk around the grounds. The sun was hidden behind thick, grey clouds that threatened rain. Cold winds brushed against my cheeks and danced with my hair. I reached back and untied the strip of black leather that held my hair out of my face.

No one else was out on the grounds as I approached the Quidditch field. I knew that I didn't have enough time to get some flying practice in before Defense Against the Dark Arts started, but the stands were a great place to sit and think.

Unfortunately, someone else thought so as well. I caught their scent before I even saw them. It was my mate. The Veela trilled with happiness and took temporary control of my body. I began to run forward before I even knew what I was doing. My feet hit the wooden stairs loudly. When I got to the benches, a black head of hair was disappearing down the other set of stairs. I rushed across the stands and ran down after him as quickly as my feet could take me but he was nowhere to be seen once I reached the bottom. The Veela was furious. It trilled angrily and since it was still in control of my body, the sound came out of my mouth and echoed over the grounds.

When I finally exited the stands I slid to the ground and held my head in my hands. The line separating myself from the Veela was starting to fade. The Veela's emotions were starting to blend with my own and I could no longer trust what I was feeling.

"Draco!" I looked up and saw Blaise running across the grounds towards me. "What happened?" Words failed me as I stared past my best friend. "Why did you trill? Draco? Look at me." The Veela warring with my human self was too much to handle. I couldn't find any words to describe what was going on inside of me. All I knew was that I wanted it to stop.

Blaise crouched patiently in front of me while I regained control of my emotions, forcing the Veela to the back of my mind. "Draco." He said tentatively. "Classes are about to start. Are you okay or should I take you back to the dormitory?"

"I'm fine." I stood and wiped my face clean of tears. Blaise looked doubtful but followed as I walked into the castle. "So you heard my trill?" He nodded. "How many others?"

"Just me, unless there's another Veela in the castle, and your mate of course."

**A/N: I know it's not much of an ending, but I really wanted to get this chapter posted.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Hello! I've decided to write this chapter from Harry's POV just so you can see what's happening in his world right now. I will be doing this the entire story so if it bothers you, I'd stop reading this right now...and i really hope it doesn't bother you because that means I lose readers :( but every so often i will be switching POV. it could be for a chapter or it could be for a couple chapters, it all depends on what's happening in the story, hope you enjoy :D happy reading :D**

**Harry's POV**

Instead of going to the Great Hall for lunch with my friends, I went to the Quidditch stands so that I could think. For days I had wanted to ask Ginny something but I hadn't been able to work up the nerve.

It hadn't been more than five minutes later when loud footsteps started ascending the steps. I shot out of my seat and ran across to the other set of stairs. Halfway down, I realized that I had my Invisibility Cloak with me. I quickly wrapped it around my shoulders and threw the hood up. Seconds later, Draco Malfoy ran past me.

Suddenly, a high-pitched, heartbreaking sound pierced the air. I crept down the rest of the stairs as silently as I could and looked out onto the grounds. Draco Malfoy was sitting on the ground with his head buried in his hands and his knees pulled up to his chest. His blond hair formed a curtain around his face and his shoulders were shaking. The sight stopped me in my tracks. Had he been the one to make that sound? It had sounded so inhuman but now, looking at him there on the ground, it just seemed to fit.

Blaise Zabini came rushing across the grounds. He crouched in front of Draco and began to talk too softly for me to hear. I knew that I should leave and get back to the castle before I was noticed but I couldn't seem to tear my eyes away from the scene playing out in front of me.

After a while they both stood, Draco wiping his eyes. "So you heard my trill?" I heard him ask the other Slytherin, who nodded. "How many others?"

I couldn't believe my ears when I heard Zabini say, "Just me, unless there's another Veela in the castle, and your mate of course."

Mate. The word rung in my ears even hours after I overheard the conversation. There was no way I was a Veela's mate, nonetheless Draco's. I was completely straight and in love with Ginny. I was going to ask her to marry me and we were going to have children together.

Hermione, Ginny, and Ron looked at me odd all through dinner and once we reached the Common Room they confronted me. "What's going on mate?" Ron asked as he hooked his arm around Hermione's waist.

I tried to shake my head and brush their worries away with a simple 'nothing' but Hermione frowned, leaning into Ron's side. "You've been walking around like a zombie ever since lunch."

"It's nothing Mione." I forced a smile. "I just ran into Malfoy during lunch and we threw insults at each other for a while."

Ginny sat down next to me. "Don't listen to anything Malfoy says." She brushed my hair away from my eyes with her gentle fingers. "He's just jealous." Her soft lips brushed against my cheek.

It almost surprised me, how easily they believed my lie. I hated to deceive them but what would they do if I told them the truth? Hermione would spew facts and tell me everything I wanted to know about Veelas and more. Ron would freak out and tell me that I couldn't be Malfoy's mate because I was in love with Ginny. I didn't even want to think about how Ginny would react. She'd probably start crying and tell me that if I really loved Malfoy then she didn't want to hold me back and I'd have to spend days reassuring her that I loved her and not some slimy Slytherin.

I wrapped my arms around my girlfriend's waist and pulled her onto my lap, pressing my lips to hers. She smiled when I pulled away, her blue eyes glittering with happiness. "What was that for?"

"Can't I kiss my girlfriend just because I want to?" Her arms wrapped around my neck as she kissed me gently. "I love you Ginny." I smiled into her hair. It smelled like lilacs, her favorite flower.

That night when the rest of the dormitory was asleep, I was awake thinking about the small box at the bottom of my trunk. The ring inside wasn't much, but it was stunning in my opinion. The center diamond was cut into the shape of a heart and on either side of it was a ruby, Ginny's favorite gemstone. After buying the ring from a Muggle jeweler I had taken it to a small shop in Diagon Alley to get Protection Charms put on it.

I'd had the ring for close to two weeks now and each day it made me even more nervous. _That's it._ I thought to myself as I closed my eyes. _I'll ask her tomorrow._

(+)(+)(+)

My dream was strange that night. I was running down the empty halls of Hogwarts with no idea what I was running to or from, all I knew was that I had to keep running. Every now and again I'd hear my name echo through the hallways but I could never tell if it was coming from ahead of me or behind me.

Suddenly Ginny was standing in front of me. I skidded to a stop. Her face was wet and her eyes were red and swollen. "Don't you love me Harry?" She asked, her voice was small and broken.

"Of course I love you Ginny." I told her but she shied away from me as I tried to hug her. "I love you more that I've ever loved anything. You make life worth living. You've always been there for me and I will always be there for you." I reached into the pocket of my robe and felt the small jewelry box. It was lighter than I remembered but I held it out to her and got down on one knee. "Ginerva Molly Weasley, I can't imagine waking up next to anyone but you. I can't imagine sharing my life with anyone but you. When I see you smile it's like the rest of the world doesn't matter, as long as you're happy. Will you marry me?"

I opened the box and she started crying again. "Is that all I am to you, a joke?" She snatched the box from my hands and turned it so that I could see the ring nestled inside. Instead of the beautiful, expensive ring that I had picked out for her, it was a ring made out of folded paper.

I woke in a cold sweat. My hands shook as I jumped out of bed and dug through my trunk until I found the ring box. I opened it and sighed in relief when I saw that the diamond and ruby ring was still inside.

Outside, the sun was just starting to rise over the horizon. I showered, dressed, and put the jewelry box in my pocket. With one last look outside the window, I turned to Ron and shook his shoulder. "Wake up mate, time for breakfast."

Ron grumbled something inaudibly and pulled himself out of bed. I watched him enter the bathroom at the other end of the dormitory and went down to the Common Room where Hermione was reading on the couch. "Are you going to ask her today?" She asked without looking up from her book. I tried to play stupid, but Hermione's too smart for me. "Ever since you arrived at the Burrow it's been obvious that you were going to ask her. You know, for a Gryffindor, you're not very brave."

Her comment surprised me. "What are you talking about? I've faced Voldemort almost every single year since we've started Hogwarts."

"And yet you can't ask your girlfriend one simple question." She closed her book as Ron stumbled sleepily down the stairs. "Good morning Ron."

Ron grinned sleepily and leaned down to kiss his girlfriend. "Good morning Mione." He ran a hand through his hair and yawned. "Can we go now? I'm starving."

Hermione laughed. "You're always starving, but we have to wait for Ginny."

Her name brought back memories from my dream and I tried to repress a shudder. Hermione noticed and raised her eyebrow at me. "It's nothing." I told her reassuringly as Ginny flounced down the stairs cheerfully. "I just had a bad dream last night."

The three of them looked at me with concern. "Was it –?" Ron asked.

I shook my head. "No, it wasn't him." They all relaxed as we climbed through the portrait hole.

The Great Hall was crowded when we entered it. Ron and Hermione walked down one side of Gryffindor table while Ginny and I went to sit across from them. Ginny took her seat next to Lavender and I shifted my weight nervously from foot to foot. My girlfriend looked up at me questioningly and I figured now was as good of a time as ever.

"Ginny," I took a deep breath and tried to still my shaking hands, "I love you more than anything in the entire world." I got down on one knee and took her hand in both of mine. "You are the sunshine of my life. Everytime you smile at me, the rest of the world doesn't matter because you're happy. There isn't a single thing that I would ever change about you. You're so unbelievably perfect and I don't deserve you." The Great Hall was dead silent. Everyone had turned to look at me. Ginny's eyes were wet and her cheeks were flushed. "Will you marry me, Ginerva Molly Weasley?" I took out the jewelry box and opened it.

The silence that followed my question was deafening and painful. With every passing second I became more and more sure that she was going to reject me in front of everyone. "Of course I'll marry you." She held my face in her hands and kissed me softly before letting me slide the ring onto her finger. "I love you Harry James Potter."

Applause broke out all around us. Hermione congratulated us as we sat down but all Ron could do was stare at us, red-faced. Several of our other friends congratulated us but soon, thankfully, the excitement died down.

**A/n: I can haz reviews?**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I'm sorry, but this chapter is pretty short...I just couldn't think of a better place to end it...so here it is :) Happy Reading**

**Draco's POV**

I walked into the Great Hall and immediately noticed the lack of sound. Blaise hit my shoulder and when I turned to scowl at him, I noticed Potter down at the other end of the hall down on one knee in front of the Weaselette.

The Veela buzzed with annoyance. Someone else was getting their happy ending while I just sat idly by and made no attempt to find my mate. The Weaselette said something and Potter slipped a ring on her finger. Happy happy happy, joy joy joy, lame lame lame. A new wave of annoyance washed over me as they kissed. For a moment, it almost seemed to run deeper than that. I pushed those thoughts aside and sat down next to Theo.

Potions that day was hell. I had to sit in a small room filled with smoke while smelling my mate and seeing Potter's love struck face everytime I turned my head. I dumped five lacewing flies into the simmering potion. "Blaise, can you hand me the newt eyes?" I held my hand out, not taking my eyes away from the green sludge in the cauldron. The sludge was beginning to darken and Blaise still hadn't handed me the newt eyes. "Blaise!" Our time window was closing. If we didn't add three newt eyes soon, this potion would explode and it wouldn't be pretty. Finally, the cool glass container was in my palm. I tipped three eyes out into my other hand and dropped the first one into the cauldron. The potion continued to darken as I waited the ten seconds necessary before adding the second. Three seconds before I could add the third, the potion began to expand. "Shit!" I yelled as I ducked under my table.

Unfortunately, because I was so close to the cauldron, the goop that came flying out was unavoidable. I stood up shakily. Where the potion touched my bare skin began to burn. Various cries of pain from around the room made me assume that several others had been doused in the potion as well.

"Class dismissed." Professor Slughorn called. "Anyone who has been splashed with the potion come up to the front of the class to get the neutralizer then head up to the Hospital Wing so that Madame Pomfrey can take care of the burns."

Blaise followed me up to the front. Potter and the Mudblood arrived there shortly after. I held my burning arms out to the professor and got the neutralizer spread over where my botched up potion had splashed. Angry red burns covered my forearms up to my rolled sleeves.

"Every year there are a few." Madame Pomfrey muttered as I told her what had happened. She inspected the burns on my arm and the ones on Blaise's face. "You might be left with a few scars but other than that I can heal them right up." She bustled over to the potion's cabinet next to her office door and took out two bottles of Burn Salve. The light pink paste felt cool against my skin and the faint burning sensation that had lingered, even after the neutralizer, faded to nothing.

Just as Blaise and I opened the door to leave the Hospital Wing I was bombarded with cinnamon, apple, and raspberry. The hallways were empty, all except for Potter and the Mudblood just arriving at the Hospital Wing. They looked to have gotten the worst of the blow. Their faces were entirely burned and there were several burns on their necks and arms. The Veela gave a trill of sadness.

Potter turned and looked at me, an almost frightened look on his burnt face. The Veela took advantage of my surprise and took a few steps toward the recently closed Hospital Wing door. My hand touched the cool handle of the door and I froze, fighting the Veela back to the dark corners of my mind.

I ran down to the Slytherin Common Room, ignoring Blaise's calls from behind me. I refused to accept the Potter was my mate.

**A/N: Review?**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hello :D I really wanted to have this chapter done a few hours ago...when it was still yesterday...but it kinda just kept going...and going...and going. I really like this chapter though :) It's my favorite so far. Happy reading :)**

**Harry's POV**

Even after the neutralizer had been applied, my face, neck, and arms still burned. I had to clench my fists around my robes so that I wouldn't reach up and touch the burns that covered any exposed skin as Hermione and I walked up to the Hospital Wing.

As Hermione and I rounded the corner at the end of the fifth floor staircase, we almost literally ran into Malfoy and Zabini. The four of us just stared at each other for several moments. I was more than aware of Malfoy's eyes running over the burns on my face and neck.

Hermione sighed and pushed carefully past them into the Hospital wing. I followed but stopped dead in my tracks as soon as I did. Almost the same sound that I had heard yesterday echoed through the empty halls. I turned and looked at Malfoy just before the door closed and blocked him from view.

After Mione and I got out of the Hospital Wing we joined Ron and Ginny in the Great Hall for lunch. I wrapped my arm around my fiancée's waist and kissed her softly on the cheek. The ring on her finger shone under the candles floating over the table. "I missed you." She leaned her head on my shoulder.

"I missed you too." I smiled into her hair and breathed in her scent.

(+)(+)(+)

"You wanted to see me Professor?" I sat down in the chair across the desk from Professor Dumbledore.

The headmaster smiled at me and leaned forward so that his elbows were resting on the desk. "Ah yes, I was hoping to congratulate you on the engagement. In the midst of this war, many people have forgotten what it is like to love. They focus so much on fighting that they think it's the only thing that's important and begin to fight fire with fire instead of with love." The headmaster's blue eyes twinkled as they looked straight into mine. I looked away, uncomfortable with the way it seemed he was looking straight into my mind. "Is there something you'd like to talk to me about?" He asked. "You seem troubled."

I shook my head. "Excuse me Professor, but I'm going to be late for Herbology." The headmaster nodded and leaned back in his chair. I rushed out of the office as quickly as I could, stumbling over my untied shoelace at the end of the staircase and falling through the door to land flat on my face in the middle of the corridor.

"Smooth move Potter." I could hear the sneer in his voice without looking up at him. "It's a wonder how you managed to get yourself a girlfriend, let alone a fiancée."

"Shove off Malfoy." I growled as I stood and smoothed down my robes. He smirked and pushed past me on his way down the corridor. "Git." I mumbled under my breath as I ran towards the Entrance Hall.

Hermione met me as I passed the lake. "Herbology's been cancelled." She told me, frowning. "It seems Professor Sprout has come down with a nasty bout of the Wizard Flu."

Ron was nearly jumping for joy when we ran into him in the Entrance Hall and told him that Herbology was off. Hermione just rolled her eyes as he wrapped his arm around her waist and led her towards Gryffindor Tower and away from the library. "We've got to take advantage of this sudden free period." He told her. "I'm not going to let you waste it in the library."

The library. I very nearly smacked myself on the forehead right then and there. I had been dying to ask Hermione about Veelas ever since I had overheard Malfoy and Zabini but had been afraid of her asking me why I was suddenly so interested in them. Most, if not all, of Hermione's information came from the library so why not just cut out the middle man and go there myself?

"Harry, mate, where're you off to?" Ron asked as I turned on my heel.

"Hogsmeade." I called over my shoulder. "I want to get Ginny a present." My mind flashed to the diamond bracelet that sat in its box at the bottom of my trunk. I had found it while going through my mum's safety deposit vault.

"You know, you could learn a few things from him about romance." I faintly heard Hermione tell her boyfriend as I rounded the corner and stepped onto the staircase just before it began to shift.

(+)(+)(+)

Hundreds of bookshelves greeted me as I entered the library. I almost turned right back around and went back to Gryffindor Tower. It would take me forever to find what I was looking for in this place. I skimmed the titles on the shelves nearest to the doors. No luck. They were all books on Herbology.

Defensive Magic. Potions. Transfiguration. The use of Herbology in Potions. Astrology. Astronomy. Divination. Using magic in the home. Offensive Magic. Finally, in the back corner of the library, I found the books on supernatural creatures.

_Vampire Hunters, The Complete History of Vampire Hunting, Vampires: Who Are They?, A Vampire's Diet. _Right where Veelas would be were books on Werewolves instead. I groaned in frustration. There were no more shelves left to search.

I slid down into an old armchair that looked like it hadn't been used in a few centuries. A thud came from under it and I leaped to my feet. Once my heart rate was back within a healthy range, I dropped to my stomach and looked under the chair. Whatever had fallen from the bottom of the chair was obscured by shadows and a cloud of dust. I reached under and pulled out a dusty package about the size of a small book with a yellow piece of parchment tied to it with fraying twine.

The parchment opened into a sheet of directions. _Go down the staircase leading towards the Entrance Hall._ My feet were moving before I even realized it. I folded the parchment carefully and stuffed the package into my pocket.

When I got to the Entrance Hall I read the next instruction. _Take the corridor directly to your right. Once three doors pass on your right you will come to a tapestry._ I looked up at the tapestry that the parchment was talking about. The border was gold and shimmered in the dull light of the corridor. In the center was a centaur with its bow raised to the sky. _Push the tapestry to the side and whisper 'Homopara'._ I did and suddenly a door appeared where a solid wall had been seconds before. _The door will only open if you turn the doorknob to the left._ I felt like an idiot turning the knob to the left but as soon as I did the door swung open as if it had been closed on a compressed spring.

The room in front of me was dark and the air was stale. I pulled my wand out and cast a quick Lumos. A few spiders scurried away from the light. On the other side of the room was a painting. As I stepped closer I could make out the back of a large black armchair. I pointed my wand back to the parchment so that I could see what I was supposed to do next. _There should be a silver-haired lady sitting in the armchair in the painting but if she isn't there just go up to the frame and tap your wand against the left side three times._

I looked back up and nearly fell over. While I had been reading the directions, the lady had appeared in the painting. She had long silver hair that fell like a waterfall down past her shoulders. Her eyes were strikingly silver and turned up at the outer corners.

_The lady in the painting's name is Viola. She's not going to like you at first. Before you tell her the password (Kindred Spirits) I'd suggest you talk to her._

The lady's eyes pierced me like icicles as I approached the painting. She didn't look very friendly but it was worth a shot. "Hello. My name is Harry Potter." She didn't respond, just kept staring at me with her cold eyes. "And you are?"

"Viola." She sniffed haughtily.

My hands began to shake. "That's a beautiful name. You don't hear many names like it these days."

"I wouldn't know. No one's come to visit me for 178 years."

"You must get awfully lonely." She nodded hesitantly. "I know what that's like. Maybe not quite to your extent, but for the first eleven years of my life I had no friends, only my overly obese cousin and we don't exactly like each other." Viola's eyes seemed to warm slightly.

The large clock in the Entrance Hall began to chime three o'clock. Ron and Hermione would start to worry soon, Ginny probably already was. I folded up the parchment and tucked it into the hidden pocket of my robes. "I'm afraid I have to go now, but I promise I'll come visit you as soon as I can." Viola nodded but turned away from me. I knew that she didn't believe me but there was no way that I could convince her at the moment.

I closed the door gently behind me and walked back to the Great Hall, wondering what was behind Viola's painting.

(+)(+)(+)

"Hey mate, it's about time you got back. You've been gone nearly an hour." Ron said as I stepped through the portrait hole.

Ginny turned around so fast that she nearly knocked the chess board in front of her onto Dean's lap. "Harry!" She nearly knocked me over as she hugged me. "I've been so worried about you. Ron and Hermione wouldn't tell me where you were."

I smiled and pulled gently away. "Just let me put some things in my trunk and I'll tell you." She stood on her tiptoes and kissed me before going to sit next to Hermione on the couch.

The bracelet was just where I remembered it to be, under the pair of socks Dobby had made me for Christmas a few years ago. I opened the box and the diamonds shimmered brightly. Smiling, I went back down to the Common Room, holding the bracelet behind my back.

"What's this for?" Ginny asked when I handed it to her.

"Just because I love you." I kissed her deeply, only stopped when I heard Ron making gagging noises from behind me. "Do you like it?"

"Like it? Harry I love it! It's gorgeous. It must've cost you a fortune." She put it on her wrist and admired it.

I pulled her towards me and kissed her again. "It was my mother's. I was at Hogsmeade for the past hour trying to find something to give you, but I couldn't find anything good enough. Then I remembered this was in my trunk and I knew it was perfect."

Ginny's eyes sparkled as she looked up at me. "You are so perfect. How did I ever get so lucky?"

I kissed her softly. "I'm the lucky one."

Ron had apparently decided that he'd had enough mushy romance in the Common Room because he pulled us apart and stepped between us. "You want to go get some flying practice in?" He asked me.

(+)(+)(+)

The next time I was able to get away from Ginny, Ron, and Hermione was the next Hogsmeade weekend. Hermione and Ron had gone on a date and one of Ginny's friends had asked her to help her with an essay. I told her that I wasn't angry with her and that I'd just sneak her out of the castle and take her on a special date the next day.

When I got to the room behind the tapestry, Viola wasn't in her painting. I took out my wand and tapped the left side of the frame three times. In the blink of an eye, Viola showed up, looking bewildered. "You're actually back." She said when she spotted me.

"I told you I would be." I smiled. She smiled hesitantly back. "Where do you go when you're not in this painting?"

"There is another painting just like this one inside the room. That's where I spend most of my time because, as I'm sure you can imagine, it's much more interesting in there than in here." I looked around the bland room we were in and nodded.

We talked until I heard the clock in the Entrance Hall chime five o'clock. By then I had learned that Viola had been a Veela and had lived in the early 1700s. Her mate had rejected her after seven years of marriage and she had died. Decades later a young Veela had discovered her portrait and brought it with him to Hogwarts. His mate, Thurston, was a teacher here at the time and enjoyed learning about her history. When he had gotten older he created these rooms for any mate who needed refuge. After a while, books about Veelas became scarce. Thurston spent his last years gathering books with information about Veelas and bringing them here. There's only one book about being a Veela's mate that never made it here, his journal.

I thought about that last bit of information as I walked to the Great Hall. Could the package I had found in the library be Thurston's journal?

(+)(+)(+)

"Why have you not asked to go into the room yet?" Viola asked me. "This is the fifth time you have visited me and yet all you have done is sit and talk to me."

I shuffled my feet and looked down at the dusty floor. "I don't think I should go in the room. I'd be intruding, seeing as I'm not a Veela nor am I a Veela's mate."

Viola laughed. "But you are a Veela's mate, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to make the door appear." I froze. I had been denying it for so long, accepting it was simply not an option. "Harry dear, are you alright?"

"I have to go." I said, shoving my hands into my pockets so that she couldn't see that they were trembling. "I don't know when I'll be able to come back." Without waiting for a response, I ran from the room, letting the door slam shut behind me.

**A/N: Uh-oh, now Harry has to accept that he's Draco's mate...what's gonna happen?**

**P.S. Viola is one of the reasons why this is my favorite chapter so far. I really like her...and the name Thurston :D**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: So there's kinda a reason that it's taken me a while longer to update...but it's not a very good one. You see, I usually let the chapters write themselves, and that's probably why my stories never quite turn out how I want them to...but this one just refused to write itself. The characters simply would not cooperate with me. But I forced them into situations that they didn't want to be involved with and then when that didn't work, I sat down and talked with them, angrily, and they started to cooperate...for a while. So yeah, this chapter isn't as long as I'd like but at least its a decent enough length. Next chapter should be from Draco's POV.**

**Harry's POV**

A Veela's mate? Me? That had to be a mistake on both Viola's _and_ Malfoy's part. There was just no possible way that I was his mate or any other Veela's mate. My heart belonged to Ginny and Ginny only. She was the one I loved, no one else, especially not Malfoy.

I threw Thurston's journal into my trunk with an angry yell. "Harry?" I heard Ginny's voice call from the Common Room. Her light footsteps began ascending the stairs. "I thought I heard you up here. Is everything okay?" Her soft hands cupped my face. "Are you crying?" She wiped a tear away with the pad of her thumb and looked at me with questioning blue eyes. "Harry, what's wrong?"

I shook my head and leaned down to kiss her but she moved away. "No Harry James Potter. You tell me what's wrong or I'm not kissing you until the wedding."

"It's nothing Gin." I told her, brushing her fiery hair away from her face. "I just let Malfoy get to me again." It was sort of the truth. Sort of.

Ginny frowned. "What does he keep saying to you that upsets you this much? Honestly, I've never seen you this worked up over anything he's said before. Maybe you should talk to Professor McGonagall about it."

Something in me loved that idea. Getting Malfoy in trouble for something he didn't do. Perhaps if I milked it as much as I could, he'd be expelled and I'd never have to think of him ever again and I could spend my life with Ginny in peace. "You know that wouldn't do anything Gin." I told her instead of entertaining the possibility any longer. "Professor McGonagall would tell Snape who'd just give Malfoy a 'stern talking to' and then it'd all just be water under the bridge with him."

(+)(+)(+)

"You're back." Viola said as I closed the door softly behind me. "I thought I'd scared you off."

I shook my head. "Kindred Spirits." The painting swung open and I heard Viola mutter something like 'about time' as I stepped through the portrait hole.

The room I stepped into was beyond magnificent. It was much larger than the Gryffindor Common rooms with several bookshelves pushed up against the cream colored walls. Bright orange armchairs were squeezed in between them. Leather bound books were strewn across the large mahogany table in the center of the room and the faint scent of apricots was coming from behind a door directly across the room from the portrait hole.

"You won't be able to open that." Viola said and it took me a moment to find that he portrait was located above one of the bright orange armchairs to my left. "You have to be bonded with your Veela in order to open it."

I frowned and let go of the door handle. "I don't have a Veela."

Viola just smiled. "Whatever you say."

It was hard to ignore her eyes on me as I explored the rest of the room. There was another, smaller room behind the one I had entered into. I had found it much on accident while I was looking at the titles lining the bookshelves. The title _Being a Veela Mate_ seemed to jump out at me. My fingers ghosted over the dusty, blue spine of the book. Before I could remove it from the shelf the entire wall began to shake. Slowly, the bookshelf in front of me began to lower into the floor, revealing another door.

I pushed it open and stepped into the luxurious bedroom. The king-sized bed pushed up against the far wall was covered in cream colored silk sheets. To the right of the bed was yet another bookshelf but this one was smaller and filled with dozens of leather bound books. To the left of the bed was a door. It opened into a closet filled with robes that looked to be more expensive than even Malfoy's. Next to the closet was a small table with two white armchairs. I ran my fingers over the dusty table and wished that the Common Room was this peaceful when Ron and I attempted to do our homework.

Homework. I groaned. I still had a History of Magic essay to write about how the Great Elf and Goblin War had affected the wizards of the late 1800s. I took one last look around the rooms before pushing open the portrait hole.

"Leaving so soon?" Viola asked as her large frame swung back into place.

(+)(+)(+)

The Common Room was a mass of movement and excitement. As soon as I stepped through the portrait hole it was as if I couldn't hear myself think. Ron was suddenly at my side with a treacle tart in hand. "What's going on?" I yelled over the dull roar of the rest of our House.

"It's your engagement party." He yelled back, a large grin on his freckled face. "Hermione and I planned it all. We got loads of food from the kitchens and last Hogsmeade visit we went and got the decorations. We sent out invitations to all of the Gryffindors and a few Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. They all brought gifts and we put them all on the table over there until it started over flowing then we had to put them on the floor around it." He patted my back. "Everyone's real happy for you, mate."

"Were you planning on telling me about this anytime soon?" I asked.

His grin faltered. "What are you talking about? I told you this morning at breakfast that we were having a party in the Common Room tonight."

I vaguely remembered him telling me something about a party around a mouthful of hotcakes. "But you never told me that it was for me. Doesn't seem to matter though, does it? You seem to have started without me anyway."

Ron looked uneasily over at Ginny and Hermione. "Well Ginny said she didn't know where you had gone and I figured that you would've told her where you were going if you had been planning on staying out until this close to curfew and so I figured that since everyone was already here…" He trailed off, looking nervous. "Harry, mate, you're not mad at me, are you?"

My fingers tightened around the strap of my book bag and my teeth clenched. "No, I'm not angry with you. I mean, I only missed most of my own engagement party and now have to find somewhere else to do my History of Magic essay. Why would I be angry?" Without waiting for a response, I whirled around and exited the Common Room, heading for the Entrance Hall.

(+)(+)(+)

Viola looked shocked to see me again. "Kindred Spirits." I said before she could question me. Her frame swung open and I climbed through the portrait hole.

"What brings you back here so soon?" Viola asked from her other painting, the one above the armchair. "Did you forget something?" I didn't answer her as I found the right book on the bookshelf and stroked its spine. The bookshelf shuddered and lowered to reveal the bedroom. I heard Viola harrumph as the bookshelf rose again to cover the door.

The peace and quiet seemed to envelope me as I sat down in one of the white armchairs. I opened my History of Magic textbook and took out a fresh piece of parchment, a brand new quill, and a bottle of ink. The words on the pages swam in front of my eyes and I couldn't focus on anything except for the row I'd just had with Ron. I knew that it wasn't really right to be angry with him. I had just been so stressed lately. All of the professors were unrelenting with their work since N.E. were coming up at the end of the year. On top of that I had all these things and people telling me that I was Malfoy's mate.

Slamming the textbook shut, I removed my robes and climbed into the large bed. The silk sheets weren't smooth as I had thought they'd be, but rather they were rough and scratched at the bare skin of my arms and torso as I removed my shirt. Clad only in my Gryffindor boxers, I shifted around on the scratchy sheets, trying to find comfort, before drifting off into a restless dream filled with silver.

**A/N: I can has review?**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I know that this chapter took me a really long time to post but I do have reasons as to why it took so long. First...school started. Ugh. Second, the adapter cord for my laptop finally died so i couldn't use my laptop until I got a new one. That took a little over a week. Then I had to write an 8 page paper for English, that was fun...not. And then, of course, I got a massive case of writer's block when it came to this story because i hadn't written anything for it in so long. I swear to you guys though, it won't take me as long to post the next chapter. Enjoy :) **

**Draco's POV**

To say that Blaise was angry with me would be an understatement. For the past three days he had refused to talk to me, and when he finally started this morning, we did nothing more than argue. We stayed away from each other after that until we automatically sat in the same compartment for the train ride home. "Why can't you just accept Potter as your mate?" Blaise asked five minutes after the train started moving.

I frowned. I had been hoping for a quiet ride back to London so that Blaise and I wouldn't leave on bad terms, or rather, worse terms than we were already on. "You don't understand, Blaise." The constant migraine I'd had for the past three weeks began to worsen. "I _hate_ him. Not just dislike, hate."

"He's your mate!" Blaise practically exploded. "You can't hate him, it's literally impossible."

"The Veela may not hate him, but trust me, I do." I crossed my arms in front of me, aware of how childish I must've looked, and turned my head to stare at the passing scenery.

It was a while until either of us spoke again. "So what are you going to tell your parents?"

"The truth?" I said but it came out as more of a question than a statement.

"And how do you think they're going to react to that?" Blaise asked, concerned. I shrugged. Really, it could go either way. "Well, good luck." He said after another few minutes of silence.

We didn't speak to each other for the rest of the ride. Once the train pulled into King's Cross Station Blaise shot me a sympathetic look and left the compartment quickly. I slowly pulled my trunk down from luggage rack and walked out to the platform. Most families had left by then and it was easy to spot Dotsy, my mother's personal house elf.

"Young Master Draco." Dotsy squeaked. "Mistress sent Dotsy to come gets you." Her bony fingers grabbed my trunk while the other hand wrapped around my robes. She blinked and everything began to spin. When my surroundings settled, I was standing in the foyer of Malfoy Manor. "Dotsy has to be getting back to work now. Welcome home Young Master Draco."

It wasn't until dinner that I saw my parents. It wasn't until after dinner that they finally talked to me. "Your mother and I haven't heard from you in a while. I assume it's because you've been searching for your mate. So, have you found…him?"

Slowly, I nodded. "Yes, I have found him, but I have not contacted him and I don't plan on doing it anytime in the near future."

Father frowned. "You don't have all the time in the world, Draco. If you have not bonded with your mate by your eighteenth birthday, you will die."

"Dragon," my mother wrapped her arms softly around my shoulders, "why have you not told him?"

I turned away from my parents. I really didn't want to see their faces when I told them. "Because it's Harry Potter."

There were several minutes of silence. "Well, son," Father said, finally, "You're doing the right thing. We're on opposite sides of the war. The two of you would be split up eventually and he'd be on the losing side."

It was in that moment when something happened. Something inside me shifted. "You're wrong Father." My voice was like ice. "I'm not doing the right thing." Fury boiled in my veins and I saw red as I turned to face my parents. "Why wouldn't you want me to be with my mate? Do you want me to be unhappy? Sick? Do you want me dead?" I walked out of the room before either of my parents could recover enough to answer.

With nowhere else to go, I Flooed to Blaise's manor. The overpowering stench of Dark Veelas almost knocked me back into the fireplace as I stepped into their foyer. "Blaise!" I yelled as I dropped my trunk and crumpled to my knees.

Blaise came running around the corner and saw me lying on the floor in front of the fireplace. "Draco, what happened?" I could do nothing but shake my head and cry as he led me up to a guest room. I cried because what I had dreaded most had happened. I cried because life as I knew it had ended. I cried because I wanted my mate, but he didn't want me.

(+)(+)(+)

The next morning, I woke in a small bedroom. It took me a while to remember where I was, even with the heavy stench of Dark Veelas hanging over me. When I did, I bolted out of the bed and grabbed my suitcases from where they sat, leaning against the wall. If Blaise knew that I was awake, he wouldn't let me leave until I agreed to tell Harry about everything.

Fortunately, I was able to cross the mansion and Floo to the Leaky Cauldron without being noticed. Unfortunately, Blaise was waiting for me there. "I know you too well, Draco." He said, leaving a few Galleons on the table and downing the last of his Butterbeer. I tried to step back into the Floo but Blaise caught my shoulder. "Not a chance. Look, I'm not going to make you go talk to him." He grinned and stepped around me. "All I'm saying is that he's currently shopping for Christmas presents on his own. Last I saw him he was at Flourish and Blotts." And he was gone.

Now that wasn't playing fair. Needless to say, I ended up in front of Flourish and Blotts. Even before I entered the store I knew that my mate was in there. I found him in the back near the Ancient Runes section. He had his back towards me. His head was tilted back and my fingers itched to run through his unruly hair.

He turned around suddenly and I hid behind the nearest bookshelf as he passed. The close proximity was killing me so I bolted out of the store. For a while I just wandered, not really paying attention to where I was going. When I looked up, I was standing in front of a small jewelry store. A beautiful, emerald pendant was hanging in the window. I pressed my hand up against the glass and admired the white gold chain.

There was no price tag, which meant that the piece of jewelry was expensive. I stepped from the crowded walkway and into a small alley between two worn down buildings. After removing my shrunken luggage from the pocket of my robes, I enlarged them to proper size and unearthed my money pouch from the bottom. It wasn't as heavy as I would have liked, but at least there was a sizable amount of Galleons.

A bell above the door rang as I walked into the shop. There was an old man behind a counter who turned around hopefully. He had stringy, gray hair and a long, unkempt beard dotted with black. His wire rimmed glasses made his blue eyes seem large and bug-like. He smiled and his teeth were yellow and crooked. "May I help you?" His voice oozed with greed.

"I'd like to know the price for the emerald pendant in the window." I said, exuding superiority and power.

The man's grin grew. He shuffled over to the window and took the pendant from the display. "This pendant is a wonderful piece of work. Handcrafted by goblins and blessed by elves to bring protection to any who wear it."

"The price." I reminded him. Shopkeepers like him could go on and on about the wonderful quality of their merchandise, I knew from experience that they were only trying to justify a high price."

"Normally, I wouldn't sell it for less than five hundred Galleons, but for you I'll lower it down to four-fifty." The old man smiled and held the pendant out for me to get a closer look.

It really was a beautiful piece of work, but I was sure that my parents had closed off my bank account already which meant the money I had with me would be all I had to live off of until I finished school and got myself a job, considering I lived for that long. "I'm afraid it's just not worth that much to me." I sniffed. "I'll just have to look somewhere else."

A pained look crossed the shopkeeper's face. "Well, maybe I can interest you in this." He held out a necklace with an icy blue sapphire dangling from a silver chain. "It's goblin-crafted and only two hundred Galleons and seven Sickles." I shook my head. "Maybe I can interest you in this emerald bracelet for one-fifty."

"I'm sorry," I said as I strode towards the door, "but your prices are far too steep for the quality of work you have here." I left the store and continued walking through Diagon Alley.

(+)(+)(+)

The next time I stopped to look up, I was outside of the Quidditch shop. Giving in to temptation, I went inside. It was almost empty in the shop and I could tell that they were getting ready to close up. It wasn't until then that I realized just how long I had been walking around Diagon Alley doing nothing but avoiding Har…Potter, afraid of what I'd do if the two of us got too close to each other.

I browsed the stock of brooms before wandering over to the Quidditch equipment. I picked up a bright red Quaffle and threw it in the air a few times, loving the feel of the rough ball on the pads of my fingers. I had always wanted to be a Chaser but just had never had the ball handling skills it required.

Suddenly, I dropped the Quaffle. There it was, sitting in a small clear box, the perfect gift for Ha…Potter. Of course, he could never know that it was from me, but it was Christmastime, I'd be a terrible mate if I didn't get him a present, right?

**A/N: Uhm...yeah, I know that the beginning of this chapter is kinda...crappy...and the end ain't so great either, but bear with me, k? Reviews are most welcome :D**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Uhm, so...I absolutely love this chapter more than any of the other's that I've written. I really do. It's by far the longest and I just...I love it, I don't know why. I hope you enjoy reading it just as much as I've enjoyed writing it :)**

**Harry's POV**

The Burrow was teeming with people of all ages, each and every one of them preparing for the Christmas party that would start in just a few short hours. Ron and I were currently up in the attic searching for a vase that Mrs. Weasley swore was up there.

"Have you found it yet?" A very dusty and disgruntled Ron called from where he was searching through boxes of china plates and tea sets.

I picked a spider web out of my hair. "No, all I'm finding are spider webs."

Ron groaned and edged closer to the trapdoor. "Let's get out of here then, before the spiders decide to return to those webs."

I began to follow my best friend until I saw a white vase with gold designs swirling around the bottom sitting atop a stack of boxes in the back corner of the attic. "Hold on, there it is." Ron lingered uneasily by the open trapdoor while I crawled over old furniture and decorations. Up close, the pile of boxes was much larger than I had expected it to be. I stretched my arms as far up as they could go but I still couldn't reach it. Why had I left my wand sitting on top of my trunk next to my bed in Ron's room? My fingertips brushed the dusty, porcelain vase and I slid my feet forward slightly, trying to get a hold on the smooth ceramic.

Next thing I know, I'm on the floor surrounded by boxes and a perfectly unharmed vase sitting in my lap. I handed the vase to Ron, who had rushed over when the tower of boxes had collapsed on me, and looked around at the mess that I had caused.

Sitting amongst several candlestick holders, was a leather bound book. I picked it up as I stood and brushed off my clothes. "What's this?" I asked Ron, showing him the weathered book.

Ron dumped the vase in my arms as he took the book from me and began to flip through the pages. "I always wondered what happened to this." He said as we closed the trapdoor of the attic behind us. "It's a book full of fairytales. When we were little Mum would read to us from it every night before bed."

"Oh good, you boys found it." Mrs. Weasley bustled over to us as we entered the kitchen and took the vase from me. "Ginny, come set the table."

Ginny pressed her soft lips against my cheek as she passed by me on her way to the counter. "I love you." She whispered.

"I love you too." I said, capturing her around the waist and kissing her properly.

Ron clapped a hand on my shoulder and shepherded me out of the kitchen as Ginny sauntered over to collect the silverware from the counter. "Look mate, I'm happy that you're gonna be a part of this family soon and all, but please, for my sake, keep the snogging to a minimum."

(+)(+)(+)

Remus and Tonks were first to arrive at the Burrow that evening. They were quickly followed by Fred and George, Bill and Fleur, and Charlie. The adults all sat around in front of the fireplace and talked while Fred and George led everyone else outside for a snowball fight.

Fred split the six of us up into two teams. "Alright, each team has twenty minutes to build up a base and some ammunition." He said. "Starting…NOW!"

Hermione, Ginny, and I ran to one side of the yard and began to build our base. Ten minutes in, Hermione stopped and began to make snowballs and put them into three piles for easy access. As soon as the base was finished, Ginny and I ducked behind it, joining Hermione and our large piles of snowballs.

It wasn't long before the front of our fort was pelted with snowballs. Hermione tossed one of her snowballs between her gloved hands for a few moments before popping up from our solid wall of snow and throwing it towards the feeble looking base that Fred, George, and Ron had built. Unfortunately, Hermione didn't have much of an arm and the snowball didn't quite make all the way. From then on, Hermione made sure we had a heaping stack of snowballs while Ginny and I threw them at the twins and Ron.

After about an hour of throwing snowballs at each other and ducking behind hastily made mounds of snow after our bases had been destroyed, Mrs. Weasley called us in for dinner and we had to call a truce. "We were just about to win." Ron complained as we sat down at the table.

"In your dreams." Ginny scoffed form the chair on my other side. "You never had a chance."

Once everyone had finished eating, everyone gravitated to the living room where there were several large stacks of presents under the Christmas tree. No one wasted any time in finding all of their presents and tearing right into them. I received a sweater and new mittens from Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, a book titled _Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Quidditch_ from Ron, the newest broom servicing kit on the market from Hermione, a Gryffindor scarf that had once belonged to my dad from Remus, a few pounds of sweets from Tonks, some brand new Weasley's Wizard Wheezes from Fred and George, a miniature dragon that blew cherry scented, unheated flames from Charlie, _Curses and Counter Curses_ from Bill and Fleur, and from Ginny I received a leather bound book without a title.

"What is this?" I asked the redheaded girl sitting in my lap admiring the diamond necklace that I had gotten for her.

She just smiled as handed me the necklace so that I could fasten it around her neck. "Open it."

Slowly, I opened the front cover and read the writing on the first page. _Defense Against Dark Magiks _by Godric Gryffindor. "This must've cost you a fortune." I whispered as I wrapped my arms around her slender waist.

Ginny turned in my lap so that she could face me. "It would have if it hadn't been passed down through the family."

I grinned and kissed her gently. "I love you."

(+)(+)(+)

That night, I sat awake at the window reading the book Ron had given me. I had finished the introductory chapters and decided to skip over the chapters about the different types of brooms. I began to read the next chapters about the Quaffles and Bludgers but found that since I didn't deal with those much in the games, the chapters bored me. I skipped ahead to the chapter about the Golden Snitch.

_The Golden Snitch is the most unique invention since Nicholas Flamel invented the Sorcerer's Stone. Never is the same Snitch used in two games of Quidditch. Once it is used, it must either be destroyed or kept by the Seeker who caught it. This is because the material that the Snitch is made of imprints onto the Seeker and will only respond to them from there on out._

Suddenly, Ron snored loudly and pulled me from my reading. I shut my book and crossed the room to the bed that had been set up for me. I had just about fallen asleep when there was a loud tapping at the window. In the dim light of the half moon I could just barely make out the silhouette of an owl carrying a small, square package. Ron grunted and rolled over, mumbling something about rats. I stifled a chuckle as I opened the window and let the owl perch on my arm.

As soon as I had untied the package, the owl flew out into the night. I shut the window against the cold, winter breeze and put the package under my pillow before falling asleep to dreams haunted by the ghosts of all the Snitches I had ever caught.

Morning came and I woke to Ron shouting at me that breakfast was ready. It wasn't until lunch that I remembered the package that I had put under my pillow the night before and not until after supper that I was able to grab a moment to myself in which I could open it.

Inside, nestled in green silk, was a Golden Snitch, its wings furled. My mind flashed back to the beginning of the chapter I had read last night. I put the lid back on the box and slid it back under my pillow.

Ron barged into the room seconds later. "Harry, mate, what are you doing up here? I've been looking all over for you." Annoyance stirred inside me, but at what I wasn't sure. "Fred and George want to have another snowball fight before they leave."

I followed Ron out into the backyard. The teams were split differently this time. It was Fred, Hermione, and I against Ginny, George, and Ron. Being a Chaser, Ginny had quite the arm and before we knew it, we were being pelted by snowballs.

This snowball fight, more of a snowball war really, lasted long after all the lights in the Burrow had gone out and we were all stumbling blindly in the dark. "I think we need to call a truce again guys." Hermione's voice came from somewhere to my left.

"Never!" Ron yelled and suddenly I was hit in the arm by a snowball.

We continued throwing snowballs into the darkness, hoping that it hit someone, until we heard the clock inside chime 2 o'clock. "Come on guys." Hermione protested. "I'm cold and tired, can we go inside now?"

"Are you surrendering?" Ginny, Ron, and George all yelled at the same time from various areas of the backyard.

"No way!" Fred and I shouted back. "Weasley's never say die!"

No one said anything for a while and the only sound that could be heard was the crunching of the snow under our feet as we all edged towards the Burrow. "So…truce?" Ron asked hesitantly not too far from where I was standing. Various sounds of agreement echoed and the six of us rushed towards the door.

(+)(+)(+)

After a few mugs of hot cocoa, Ron fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow, his snores filling the small room. For a while, I just sat on the edge of the bed and stared at the box containing the Golden Snitch. When I opened it, I was careful not to touch the Snitch itself.

Under the green silk, I found a folded note. With slightly shaky hands, I removed the parchment and unfolded it. _I hope you had a happy Christmas_. There was no signature or anything to let me know who had sent it. As I turned it over to check the back of the parchment I caught an unfamiliar scent that stirred something in my chest. It smelled like vanilla and something else that I couldn't quite put my finger on, something flowery.

I tucked the note into the bottom of the box again and carefully placed the Golden Snitch on top of it, still wrapped in the green silk. Placing it under my pillow once again I fell into a deep sleep.

(+)(+)(+)

I was back in the castle, running down empty hallways. No, not just running, chasing someone. It was the same person that had sent me the Snitch. The hallways were filled with the flowery vanilla scent.

No matter how long I ran, I never got winded and I never lost faith that I would catch whoever I was chasing. With each corner I turned I could feel myself getting closer and closer until finally there he was, in the middle of the Great Hall. His blonde hair shone silver down his back and it moved like water as he turned to face me.

"My mate." His whisper carried easily over the silence.

(+)(+)(+)

Cold air caressed my feet and arms. I shivered and opened my bleary eyes. Ginny was standing at the side of the bed holding the blanket in one hand, exposing me to the cold, winter air. "I had a bad dream." She whispered as she climbed into the bed with me.

I draped an arm over her waist and pulled her warm body closer to me. "Do you want to talk about it?" She shook her head and turned around so that her face was pressed into my shoulder. I could feel tears begin to soak through my t-shirt. "Hey," I pulled away from her, "are you okay?"

She sniffled and wiped the tears from her cheeks. "I just can't shake this feeling that something's going to happen. Something bad." She wrapped herself around me and sniffled again. "I keep dreaming that you're going to leave me."

My thoughts went to the dream Ginny had woken me from. I wanted to reassure her and tell her that I'd always be there for her and that I'd never do anything to hurt her, but in the pit of my stomach I knew that that might not be true. It wasn't just in my dreams that Malfoy had called me his mate.

Luckily, Ginny had fallen asleep. I pushed her hair away from her face and pressed a kiss to her forehead. I couldn't imagine being with anyone else but her yet there were these feeling inside me that came from absolutely nowhere and left me confused.

(+)(+)(+)

Early the next morning I carried a sleeping Ginny back to the room she was sharing with Hermione. As I entered the room, the bushy haired witch raised her eyebrow at me over her book. "Nothing happened." I whispered as I pulled Ginny's covers up to her shoulders. "She just had a bad dream."

"I know." Hermione said, putting her book down. "She's been having them all holiday. Every night she wakes up crying and I tell her not to worry, that you'll never leave her, but I know it doesn't mean anything to her coming from me."

My stomach began doing flips. "Hermione…" I paused, not really sure what I was going to say. I noticed the book that she had set down beside her. "Can I borrow that when you're done?"

She smiled and held out the book. "You can take it now. I've already read through it twice." I thanked her and left the room with the book. I didn't know what had spurred my interest in Wizarding fairytales, but something had drawn me to the book.

Ron's snores made it impossible to read in his room so instead I took the book down to the sitting room. The first few fairytales bored me but then I came to one titled _Cassandra and the Two Suitors._

_Cassandra was the daughter of the most powerful wizard in the village. She had flax golden hair and round green eyes that captured the attention of dozens of men. Each of them had tried courting her but not a single one of them had captured the heart of the beautiful young maiden._

_One warm afternoon, two suitors came into the village, having heard of Cassandra's beauty. The first was from an eastern village and had dark hair and dark eyes. The second was from a village to the north and had even lighter hair than Cassandra and pale blue eyes._

_The man from the east was named Rafe. He showered Cassandra with expensive gifts and tokens of his love. Every day he would take her out to a different village in his carriage and he would buy her anything she wanted. He came from a wealthy family and promised to take care of Cassandra._

_The man from the north was named Fabien. He didn't shower her in gifts like Rafe did, but instead picked flowers for her every morning at dawn and had them waiting for her in a vase next to her bed by the time she woke. Every evening, after Cassandra had been out with Rafe all day, Fabien would be waiting for her with a warm bowl of water for her aching feet. He did not come from a wealthy family and he had nothing to offer Cassandra but his love for as long as she would have him._

_The time came when Cassandra's father asked her if she had chosen a suitor. Her father really wanted her to choose Rafe but when Cassandra looked at the dark haired man her heart didn't do flips in her chest the way it did when she looked at Fabien. Rafe had showered her in material possessions while Fabien had showered her in affection._

_Cassandra chose Fabien. As soon as the words left her mouth Fabien began to change in front of them. His hair began to shimmer silver in the sunlight and his eyes were no longer blue, but a piercing grey. Everyone present gasped at his beauty._

_Fabien took Cassandra into his arms and kissed her, bonding them together forever. Then they rode off into the sunset and lived happily ever after._

"That was my absolute favorite fairytale when I was little." I jumped about a foot off the couch and whirled around to see Ginny leaning over the back of the couch. "I used to lie awake at night and wish that there was a Veela out there somewhere waiting to bond with me." She walked around the couch and curled up in my lap so that she could see the pictures on the pages. "Luckily for me I found something much better." She tilted her head up and pressed her lips to mine.

I lost myself in the feeling of her kisses. It seemed like it had been ages since the two of us had last spent any alone time together. "How would you like to go to lunch with me today? We can go to Hogsmeade and then we can go visit Luna at the castle."

Ginny frowned nuzzled into my neck. "I promised Mum I'd help her start planning for the wedding." She mumbled.

"We have until summer to plan for the wedding." I told her as I began to nibble her ear. "It's been so long since we've last gone on a proper date." I said, punctuating my words with kisses down her pale neck. "I miss having you all to myself." My lips connected with hers again shortly before they went to trace her jaw line.

"Harry." She squirmed in my lap as I nipped at her pulse. "You know I can't say no to you when you do this." I smirked into her freckled skin. "Alright, I'll tell Mum as soon as she gets down here that I'll start planning with her tomorrow."

**A/N: I'm sorry that there is still no Harry/Draco action but I prooommiissee that it's coming eventually but for right now you'll just have to bear with me or stop reading. It's your choice. And I know that there's been a lot of Harry/Ginny stuff but he does love her, a lot, and he always will, so deal with it or quit reading because I don't care what you think about it, i think it's cute! Please review :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: I know this took me longer than usual to post but originally this chapter was from Harry's POV and I found that it just wasn't working so I had to start over and then I had it all written in my notebook but I was too lazy to transfer it onto my computer. Then I did and realized that I had stopped writing halfway through a scene and so I had to finish writing that...and yeah, sorry...**

**Draco's POV**

Diagon Alley had becomes rather boring after wandering around it every day for a week. I stared out of the window in my room at the Leaky Cauldron. Hundreds of witches and wizards were scurrying about below. What I needed was a change of scenery. And a job, I thought as I looked at my drawstring bag that used to be filled with Galleons.

With the small amount of money I had left tucked carefully in my pocket, I left the Leaky Cauldron and Apparated to Hogsmeade. I walked down the snowy streets and hoped that anyone who had stayed at the school for holidays stayed up there.

When my fingers began going numb, I stopped at the Three Broomsticks and ordered myself a Butterbeer. I paid Madame Rosmerta with small change that I had counted out on the counter while I had waiting for my drink. As I drank, I counted how much money I had left, 10 Galleons, 13 Sickles, and 4 Knuts. "Looking a little low there." Madam Rosmerta said. "You should swing by Gringotts soon."

I sighed and rested my heat in my hands. "Can't, my parents shut me out of the account." I said. It was easier than telling her that I had been disowned.

Madame Rosmerta smiled as she wiped down the counter. "That's exactly what my folks did to me when I was your age. It teaches you responsibility, it does, and the value of a Sickle." She looked at me for a while with her deep brown eyes. "Tell you what, come on back here. There's something I want to show you."

I followed the witch into the back room. "Here's the Butterbeer." She pointed to a large barrel. "You never fill a glass more than two thirds of the way or it will foam over and make a right mess, remember that." I nodded, confused. "The Firewhiskey and mulled mead are all kept in this cabinet. If someone asks for a mixed drink let me know and I'll show you how it's done. If a customer orders food write down what they want and then bring it over to this here window. Chuck will make it and then set it here on this counter and then it's your job to bring it to the right table. Chuck!" A large man appeared in the window. "Meet our new waiter."

Chuck stuck a large, meaty hand out towards me. "Nice to meet you. Mind if I call you Leopold?"

Overwhelmed, I shook his hand slowly. "Uh, my name's Draco, but Leopold's fine…I guess."

"Grab and apron and get going." Madame Rosmerta said cheerily. "It's almost time for the lunch rush."

I tied an apron around my waist and took the small memo pad from the pocket. Attached to it was a small, black, self-inking quill. I went back around the counter and sat down on one of the stools, waiting for a customer.

It didn't take long for the bell over the door to ring. I looked up from my conversation with Madame Rosmerta and saw Harry Potter hand in hand with Ginny Weasley. My heart twisted painfully and my stomach began doing flips. My vision began to blur as I turned back to my new boss. "I can't serve them. I'm going in the back."

Madame Rosmerta looked from me to the happy couple seated at one of the back tables. I'll do it this once, but later we need to have a discussion about this. Harry and Ginny are two of my best customers and I can't have this happening every time they come in."

(+)(+)(+)

The rest of the day passed by with no issues. Once it was time to close, Madam Rosmerta taught me the spells with which to lock up. "Now," she said as soon as the doors were locked and the only light was coming from the kitchen, "I do believe we have some things to discuss."

I sighed. I had been hoping that she would have forgotten. "First," she said, "your salary." She took off her apron and sat down on one of the bar stools. The light from the street shining in through the window made her dress shimmer. "How does five Galleons a day sound?"

Now I'm no expert in salaries for part time jobs, but that sounded high. I opened my mouth to protest but she cut me off with a shake of her head. "Nope, I've decided, that's what you're getting. Next order of business, Harry Potter." Just hearing his name sent shivers down my spine. "Now, I've heard plenty about your little schoolyard rivalry but you need to know that it simply cannot continue in the workplace. You're just going to have to get over it."

I fiddled with the hem of my apron. "You don't understand." I said softly. "It's not like that, not at all." Madame Rosmerta waiting patiently for me to continue, her eyes soft and kind. "I can't go near him. If I do, I'm afraid that I'll accidentally tell him."

"Tell him what sweetheart?"

"That he's my mate." I whispered.

My words hung in the still air for what seemed like ages.

"You're a…" Madame Rosmerta gasped and I nodded. "And he's…" I nodded again. "But he's…" Nod. "Oh you poor child." Suddenly her arms were around me. For a long time we just sat there like that. I found her embrace comforting, almost motherly.

When Madame Rosmerta pulled away her eyes were moist. "Well, don't you worry. I'll respect your decision to keep your distance from him." She wiped her eyes. "Okay, you can pick up today's pay when you come in to work tomorrow. I want you in at 6:30."

I nodded and left. The streets of Hogsmeade were dark and empty. Streetlamps shed little light on the freshly fallen snow. I Apparated back to Diagon Alley and walked slowly to the Leaky Cauldron.

(+)(+)(+)

The next morning, my wand woke me up at 5:30. I went down the hall to the only bathroom on the top floor. After a hot shower, I drank some tea and Apparated to the Three Broomsticks. Madame Rosmerta was already there, wiping down the tables. "Good morning Draco." She chirped cheerily.

"Good morning." I replied politely. "What would you like me to do?"

She straightened up and surveyed the pub. Motioning to the counter she said, "First you can take the barstools down and clean the counter and then I do believe Chuck has a few errands for you to run."

Once I could almost see myself in the polished wood counter, I went back to the kitchen where Chuck was waiting for me. "Leopold!" He grinned and clapped me on the shoulder, sending me stumbling back into the wall. "It's good to see that you've made it another day." There was something really strange about this man but it was near impossible not to smile in his presence.

"Madame Rosmerta said you had errands for me." I said.

He pulled a rumpled piece of parchment out of his apron pocket but before he would give it to me, he motioned for me to lean in. "On this piece of parchment are all the secrets of my cooking. Don't let anyone else see it and follow the directions exactly as I've written them."

"Yes sir." I said.

Chuck smiled again and rested one of his large hands on my shoulder. "That's a good lad Leopold."

I took the folded parchment and left the pub. When I got to the market down the street I unfolded the parchment. _Go where the air smells right._ Stunned, I stood there, frozen on the sidewalk, staring at the single sentence. I didn't even know what I was supposed to buy.

"Where the air smells right? Well, I guess I might as well try." The air around me smelled of winter and chocolate and something else that I couldn't quite put my finger on. Something that just made the air smell kind of…off.

I started walking down the streets, occasionally stopping to smell the air. It took me half an hour to walk through the entire town and still there was something off about the way the air smelled. The same thing happened at Diagon Alley and then again at Knockturn Alley. Frustrated, I punched the brick wall of a building. My knuckles throbbed but I didn't care. The air smelled good wherever I went, like winter with various foods mixed in and it made my mouth water, but there was always something there that I had never noticed before. It didn't smell bad, but it just didn't smell _right_.

Chuck grinned when I walked into the kitchen. "Ah! Leopold, that took a lot less time than I expected it too." He wrapped his muscular arm around my shoulders. "What have you got for me?"

His large smile and bright eyes made it hard to tell him that I hadn't been able to find anything. "Nowhere smelled right." I said by way of explanation when the smile dropped from his face and his eyes lost their sparkle.

"I understand." He said slowly. "I just never took you as the type to give up."

Chuck's disappointment killed me. "I'm not giving up!" I yelled to both mine and Chuck's surprise. "I'll find where the air smells right, I swear." I ran out of the pub and Apparated to Diagon Alley. Positioning myself on one end of a long stretch of road, I closed my eyes and began walking.

The air consistently smelled _wrong_. No matter what else was in the air there was always that underlying scent that threw everything off. That is, until I hit a brick wall…literally. Startled, my eyes flew open. It was just a normal brick wall next to the Leaky Cauldron. I remembered my father telling me about it the first time he brought me here. _"That, Draco, is all that separates us from the Muggle world. I don't want you ever going near it." _He had said.

I slid my hand over the rough bricks. They didn't feel like anything special, it was just a normal brick wall. How was I supposed to get to the other side? There was no way I'd be able to climb over it. Suddenly, the bricks began to shift.

When they stopped moving, I found myself face to face with…

**A/N: I'm sorry...NO I'M NOT! MWAHAHAHAHAHA (sorry, i'm sick and sleep deprived...)**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: OMG LOOK! IT'S A NEW CHAPTER! Don't worry, you're not delusional, I really am posting new chapters two days in a row. One reason is because this chapter was really frickin' easy to write. Another reason is because I'm doing NaNoWriMo so...don't expect many, if any, updates in November...and I felt bad about that so I'm going to try to get as many chapters up in the next five days as possible. So...yeah, hope you like it :D I'm sorry that it's not really as long as my last few chapters have been. Happy reading :)**

**Harry's POV**

"How was Godric's Hollow?" Ginny asked when I returned to the Burrow. She wrapped her pale arms around my waist and rested her head against my chest.

I ran my fingers through her long hair and kissed the top of her head. "There were two properties for sale. I've looked at the both of them but next time you're just going to have to come with me and decide which one you like best."

Mrs. Weasley came bustling into the kitchen, a bunch of white fabric bunched up in her arms. "Oh! Harry dear, I wasn't expecting you back so soon." She quickly hid the fabric behind her back. "Why don't you go up and talk to Ron? I think he wanted to tell you something."

I nodded and kissed Ginny before taking the stairs two at a time until I reached Ron's room on the top floor. When I opened the door, I saw Ron sitting on his bed flipping through the worn pages of his copy of _Quidditch Through the Ages._ "Hey mate, your mum said you had something to tell me."

Ron looked up at me with confusion written all over his freckled face. "Uh, no I don't." He put his book down. "I think Mum just wanted you out of the way. She and Ginny have been whispering and planning all week, trying to get you out of the house. I think they expected you to be gone longer." I looked back through the open door, trying to see what was going on down in the kitchen. "If I were you," Ron said, "I'd just stay out of their way. It's not worth it to find out what they're up to."

Agreeing, I sat down on the edge of my bed and picked up _Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Quidditch_ from where I had left it on my pillow. The box that held the Golden Snitch which I was still keeping stashed under it fell to the floor.

"What's that?" Ron asked, picking it up and turning it around in his hands.

I shrugged and reached to take it back. "An anonymous Christmas present."

"Have you opened it yet?" I nodded. "Well what is it?"

For some odd reason, I didn't want Ron to know what it was. It felt like a secret that I should keep between myself and whoever had sent it to me. It felt almost…intimate. "Nothing." I said, snatching it away from him. "Just some Chocolate Frog cards. They're all ones I already have though."

Ron looked at me suspiciously for a few seconds before shrugging. "Whatever. If you don't want to tell me what it is then you don't have to." He crossed the small space between our beds and picked up his book again. "I guess I was wrong in thinking that we were best mates and told each other everything."

Guilt bubbled up inside my chest. "Fine." I sighed and Ron grinned widely. I removed the top of the box and carefully took the Snitch out, making sure only to touch the green silk it was wrapped in.

"Bloody hell!" Ron was standing right in front of me in an instant. "Is that a real Golden Snitch? Do you have any idea how much one of those costs?" I slowly put the Snitch back into the box. "Whoever gave that to you must be as rich as the Malfoys."

I returned the Snitch to the box. My thoughts all scattered and tangled at the mention of the Malfoys. I shoved the box into the pocket of my robes and opened the window. "I'm going out flying for a while." I told Ron as I pulled my wand out. "_Accio Firebolt._" My broom soared out of the Weasleys' broom shed and right into my outstretched hand.

Out in the open air I could feel the tension leaving my body. _Malfoy, _the name echoed around in my mind. I shut my eyes against the harsh glare of the sun and let my thoughts wander back to what had happened earlier that day.

_I had just finished looking at the two available properties in Godric's Hollow. Both of the houses were really nice and nearby my parents' old house. I hadn't wanted to make the decision without Ginny so I just told that landlord that I'd be back again with her to look at the houses sometime soon._

_It hadn't taken as long as I had expected to tour both of the houses so I decided to take a bus to the entrance of Diagon Alley. I tapped the bricks with my wand and they began to shift aside, creating an entrance into the Wizarding World._

_Since no one usually leaves Diagon Alley that way, I wasn't watching where I was going and very nearly ran into someone who was just standing there in front of where the brick wall had just been. "Watch it Potter." I instantly recognized the voice as Malfoy. I turned to throw a comeback at him but when my eyes met his, I froze. There was something there, behind that cold surface, something I had never seen before. He almost seemed to be holding something back. His lips were moving too. Not obviously, but it was almost as if he were chanting something to himself._

_I found it impossible to find some rude comment to throw at him. It was as if, after six years of hating him, all those negative feelings had just disappeared. My heart fluttered in my chest. I mumbled an apology and headed for Fortescue's as quickly as my feet would carry me. Behind me I heard an odd sound that damn near broke my heart and caused tears to blur my vision._

_Suddenly, I remembered hearing that same exact sound at the beginning of the school year. I had been down by the Quidditch Pitch and Malfoy and Zabini had been talking about only Veelas and mates being able to hear it._

Softly, I landed in the Weasley's backyard and sat in the soft snow. I had never really forgotten about the whole mate business. True, I hadn't visited Viola since I had spent the night in that room and I hadn't thought of what Malfoy and Zabini had talked about that afternoon since my engagement to Ginny, but it had always been there, dormant in the back of my mind.

Now that I was thinking about all of that again, I was getting uneasy. Bumping into Malfoy in Diagon Alley didn't help. For the first time in my life I was confused about how I felt. I knew that I loved Ginny, very much, but I wasn't sure how I felt about Malfoy. I had read the Wizarding fairy tale about Veelas and realized now exactly what being Malfoy's mate would be and I couldn't honestly say that I was repulsed by the idea. I mean, Malfoy wasn't bad looking, he was actually quite attractive, and he hadn't been as snotty this year.

"Aren't you cold?" Ginny's voice interrupted my thoughts. She stood at the back door. I motioned for her to sit with me. "What are you doing out here in the snow?" She asked as she let my arms wrap around her.

She was warm against my chest. Her familiar scent wrapped around me like a comforting hug. I closed my eyes and just enjoyed her presence. "I was just thinking." I said when I finally answered her.

"About anything in particular?"

I smiled and kissed the spot where her neck met her shoulder. "About how much I love you." That wasn't exactly a lie. "And how I'll never let anything come between us. " I really hoped that that wasn't a lie.

(+)(+)(+)

That night I lay in bed staring up at the ceiling. Sleep seemed impossible. Thoughts and feelings were rushing through my head so fast that I couldn't even tell them apart. _I used to lie awake at night and wish that there was a Veela out there somewhere waiting to bond with me. _Ginny had said that to me just a few days ago and now it would not stop repeating in my head. _Luckily I found something better._

But I was not better. I really wasn't. Not if I was going to end up leaving her for Malfoy. _You're not going to, though._ I told myself. _You love Ginny, not Malfoy. Besides, even if you weren't __**completely **__and __**totally**_ _in love with her, you're straight, not gay._ Of course, telling myself that didn't help at all. There was more evidence pointing to me being Malfoy's mate than there was proving that I wasn't.

My head felt like it was about to explode as I finally drifted off to sleep.

**A/N: Review?**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: I'm back! I'm sorry that I haven't updated in almost a month, but NaNoWriMo and then being sick has taken up most of my life since the beginning of November. To make up for it I've put something in this chapter that I think all of us have been waiting for since I started this fic. :) Enjoy :D**

**Harry's POV**

"Well, look what the cat dragged in." Viola sniffed haughtily as I closed the door behind me. "I was beginning to think that you had forgotten about me."

I felt my face flush. "I'm sorry Viola." Her face didn't soften. "I didn't forget about you. It's just that there's been a lot going on in my life right now and I just didn't want to think about being a Veela's mate because I'm engaged to this wonderful girl who's the love of my life and…" I realized that I was rambling and fell silent.

Viola didn't say anything. She just stared at me with cold eyes. I could feel my face flush and my eyes fell to gaze at the stone floor. "I'll leave you alone now." I shuffled my feet as I backed towards the door. "But I'll be back as soon as I can and I'm going to keep coming back until you forgive me."

I waited at the door, hoping that she would say something, but when she just disappeared from the frame I slipped out into the hallway and walked aimlessly around the castle with my hands in my pockets.

Students pushed past me on their way to greet friends whom they hadn't seen during the holidays. Joyous chatter and cheery reunions echoed from the Entrance Hall to the Great Hall. I neared Gryffindor Tower and saw Ginny talking to one of the girls in her year.

Before she could notice me, I spun on my heel and walked quickly in the other direction. I told myself that it was because I didn't want to interrupt her conversation, but I knew it was because I just couldn't find it in myself to talk to her right now.

Suddenly, the castle was too cramped. There were too many people and it felt like they were all watching me with whispering eyes. "He's avoiding her." The eyes said. "He's going to leave her."

"No." I whispered, running my hand through my hair. "I'm not going to leave Ginny. I love her. Really, I do."

I couldn't get away from the stares, from the whispers. They're coming from the paintings and the walls. I race down empty halls to the passageway to Hogsmeade. Only when the secret door closed behind me did the whispers stop. I let out a sigh of relief and leaned against the cold, stone wall for a moment to calm my erratic breathing.

When I exited the passageway at Honeydukes I was assaulted by the sweet scent of chocolate. The usually delicious smell made me sick to my stomach and I couldn't get out of the sweets shop fast enough.

The brisk air of January greeted me as I stepped outside. The empty streets made me feel alone and I found myself almost missing the crowded halls of Hogwarts. Snow crunched under my feet as I began walking back towards the castle.

Two people stepped out of the Three Broomsticks and I ducked into a small alley, getting the sense that they wanted some privacy. Their words floated through the still air and I couldn't help but overhear the conversation that they were having. "Now, I want you coming down to work whenever you can." Madame Rosmerta said.

Someone laughed. "I'll come down as often as I can, but with NEWTs this year I'll have a lot of school work." His voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't quite place it.

"Of course." Madame Rosmerta said. "I don't want this job to get in the way of your grades, but it's been nice having you around." Silence fell over the street once again and I wondered why he wasn't responding. I wanted him to talk so that I could figure out who he was and why his voice sounded so familiar. "What's wrong?" Madame Rosmerta asked and her voice sounded closer than it had before.

"He's here." His voice was also closer and suddenly I knew why it sounded familiar it was—

Malfoy walked into view and stared at me with an odd expression on his face. I couldn't tear my eyes away from his face as he took a few steps towards me. "What are you doing here?" He asked with an unidentifiable emotion coloring his voice.

I was vaguely aware of Madame Rosmerta rushing back into the Three Broomsticks. I didn't know how to answer Malfoy's question. Was I supposed to tell him that I had a mental breakdown and came rushing to the first place that I thought of? No, definitely not.

He came closer. I noticed that he was a few inches taller than I was. His silvery hair fell over his shoulders and let off an endearing scent. I wanted to distance myself from him, he was getting too close, but instead I found myself stepping towards him instead of away. For a moment, he paused, and then leaned away. I let out a breath that I hadn't known I was holding. Time seemed irrelevant as we stood there like that.

Slowly, Malfoy leaned closer again and I felt myself doing the same. The little voice of reason in the back of my head was telling me to get away from him as quickly as I could, but my body had other ideas.

Our lips met and I almost pulled away, but something stopped me. I found myself actually enjoying the kiss. His lips were soft and warm on mine. His tongue swiped across my bottom lip and suddenly I realized what I was doing.

I stumbled away from Malfoy. He watched me almost sadly as I pushed past him and ran back to Honeydukes so I could get back to the castle as soon as physically possible.

(+)(+)(+)

"Where have you been?" Ginny asked as I climbed through the portrait hole. "I've been looking for you."

"I've just…I've been…well…" I couldn't form a sentence, not while she was looking at me with those eyes. Those eyes that trusted me and loved me. "I'm sorry!" I yelled and dashed up the stairs to the boy's dormitory.

Ron was lounging on his bed with _Quidditch Through the Ages. _He looked up when I sat down on my bed. "What's up mate?"

He knew. I didn't know how he knew, but he did. He called me mate. Why would he do that if he didn't know? It took me a few seconds to realize that he always called me mate and calm down. I had no idea what to tell him. Was I supposed to tell him that I had just been kissing Malfoy in an alley in Hogsmeade? Only if I had a death wish.

"Are you alright?" Ron sat up straighter on his bed and looked at me concernedly.

I forced a smile. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Ron stared at me for a while, skeptical, before lounging back on his bed and picking his book back up. "Alright, just making sure. You look kind of…frazzled." He raised an eyebrow. "You're not getting cold feet, are you?" He asked and I gulped.

"No, of course not."

Hermione stormed into the dorm, her hands on her hips. "Harry James Potter." She nearly yelled and I swore under my breath. "What have you done to Ginny? She's in the Common Room so upset that she can't even talk." I could feel Ron glaring at the back of my head. "If you hurt her you are going to be in a world of trouble." I was at a loss for what to say. Hermione pointed to the stairs. "You go down there right now and apologize for whatever you did." I practically ran out of the room.

Ginny was sitting on one of the armchairs in front of the fire. Her knees were pulled up to her chest and her head was buried in her arms. I approached her cautiously. "Ginny?" She looked up at me. Her eyes were red and makeup ran down her freckled face. My chest filled with grief and I pulled her off the armchair towards me. Her arms wrapped around me and she pressed her moist face into my shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"Don't say that!" She pulled away and hit me. "Why do you keep telling me you're sorry. What did you do?"

I didn't know what to tell her. With every passing second she got farther and farther away from me. "No, Ginny, I didn't do anything."

"I don't believe you!" She yelled as she grabbed a throw pillow off of a nearby couch and threw it at me. "If you didn't do anything then why do you keep telling me that you're sorry?"

"Because I knew you were looking for me and I hid from you." I had no idea where that came from but I had to go with it now that I had said it. "I just needed some time to think on my own."

She sniffled. "Why?"

I was really digging myself in deep. "Because this is a big thing." I said. "And I don't want you getting hurt because you're my fiancée. I was just making sure that I was ready to take that risk with you."

"Harry James Potter," she said with a small smile as she walked slowly towards me, "that is my risk to take and my decision to make." She rose up on her toes and kissed me softly. A part of my mind began to compare it to Malfoy's kiss, but I quickly shut it up and immersed myself in my fiancée's lips.

**A/N: Reviews get turned into hot Harry/Draco kisses :D**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: I'm surprised at how easily I've fallen back into the swing of this story after having not written for almost a month. It's really nice to be back to posting a chapter every day or two :) I've really missed this story :) I was actually expecting this chapter to both take longer to write and be well...longer. Unfortunately, it's pretty short. Sorry. Enjoy :)**

**Draco's POV**

I could not believe that I had just done that. My lips were still buzzing from the kiss as Harry disappeared into Honeydukes. He had been so close, I hadn't been able to control myself. His intoxicating scent had drawn me in but the kiss, the kiss was all on me.

Madame Rosmerta came out of the Three Broomsticks. "Well, that could have been worse." She said and I forced a smile. "Here's your last paycheck. I want you to keep in touch with me." I took the heavy pouch of money from her.

I couldn't get the kiss off of my mind as I walked back to the castle. Now that I'd had contact with Harry, really enjoyable contact, it was going to be harder to keep away from him. Despite the cold, winter winds, my lips were still warm.

(+)(+)(+)

"Draco, where have you been?" Blaise asked as I stepped into the Slytherin Common Room. "I was worried when I didn't see you on the train."

When I didn't answer him, he followed me back to the dorms. "Where were you?" He persisted. "The last time I saw you was in Diagon Alley at the beginning of the break when I sent you after Harry." He snickered. "Did you two shack up for the rest of break or something?"

I shook my head. "I kissed him Blaise." The words left my mouth before I even realized that I had thought them. "I didn't take the train and I kissed him."

Blaise looked at me like I was speaking Troll. "So you weren't on the train because you were kissing Harry?" He asked slowly.

"No," I collapsed onto my bed and tried to ignore the feelings of want and need that had settled in the pit of my stomach, "I wasn't on the train because I didn't want to be around him. I have a job at the Three Broomsticks and so I just stayed there until I figured it was safe to come back up to the castle, but when I left the pub I could smell him there, in Hogsmeade. He was in an alley and for a while we just stood there and I thought I had enough self control to walk away but then the next thing I know I'm kissing him."

"Was it good?" Blaise asked.

"Good?" I shot off of my bed. "It was amazing. The best thing I've ever experienced." The feelings in the pit of my stomach grew stronger as I remembered how kissing Harry had felt. "I want to kiss him again Blaise." I whined as I sank back down on my bed and pressed my face longingly into my pillow.

"So go kiss him." Blaise said, throwing a ball of parchment at me.

I glared at him. "It's not that simple."

"Why not?"

"Because it's just not. He's engaged to be married to Ginny Weasley. What kind of person would I be to come between them? What kind of mate would I be to make him unhappy?"

Blaise and I sat there in silence until Theo came in the room, followed shortly by Crabbe and Goyle. "We're going to head up to the feast." Theo said. "You guys coming?"

I shook my head at the same time that Blaise nodded. "I'm going to take a walk. I'll catch up with you guys later."

My friends nodded hesitantly and left the dormitory. I waited until I was sure that everybody would be at the feast before leaving the Common Room. The empty halls of the castle comforted me and yet they made me feel more alone than I'd ever been.

It happened near the Astronomy Tower. I could smell him before I could see him, but it was too late for me to turn around or hide. Harry came around the corner and froze as soon as he saw me. I took a few steps forward and he moved away. It was clear that he was uneasy with being so close to me after what had happened earlier.

I opened my mouth to say something, anything, to break the awkward silence that hung between us, but Harry put up a hand and stopped me. "I don't want to know, Malfoy." He said. "What happened earlier is over and I just want to pretend that it never happened, okay?" I nodded. Harry walked briskly past me. I turned and watched him walk down the hall and then disappear around the corner.

My heart began to break in my chest. I had been rejected by my mate. He didn't know it, but he had caused me more pain than I had ever felt. I ran to the Great Hall, fueled by my pain.

Blaise, Theo, Crabbe, and Goyle were just leaving the Great Hall as I arrived. I tried telling Blaise what had happened, but, between my shallow breaths and the sobs that wracked my body, I couldn't even form words. Blaise told everyone to go on without us and ushered me to the nearest bathroom. A small Hufflepuff first year was in there, but as soon as he saw Blaise he fled as if a hippogriff was chasing him.

"Draco, shh, calm down." He said as he turned on one of the sinks and led me over to it. "What happened?"

I told him all about what had just happened in the hallway. He stood and listened patiently until I had finished. "I don't think he was rejecting you Draco." I started to protest but he cut me off. "You told me earlier that he's engaged to be married to the Weaselette." I nodded. "Well then he's probably confused because he obviously loves her if he's asked her to marry him and then it's more than likely he felt something for you when you kissed him earlier." I was starting to see what he was getting at, but it didn't make it hurt any less.

I pulled myself together. "But Draco," Blaise said as I was about to leave the bathroom, "you're going to have to figure out what you're doing soon. If you're going to stay out of his life and let him live his life without knowing that he's your mate then you can't get this worked up when things like this happen." He smiled at me, but it was a small, sad smile. "And if you're going to go around kissing him, you're going to have to tell him." He passed me and opened the door. Before he stepped out of the bathroom he turned back to me. "If I were you, Draco, I'd hurry up and figure it out. You've already wasted almost six months."

(+)(+)(+)

To avoid going back to the dormitory to join three guys who had seen me break down, I continued my walk around the castle. Even though curfew wasn't for another hour, most students were in their Common Rooms already.

As I was passing the library, I noticed a small, leather bound book lying on the floor. I opened it to see what it was and a folded piece of parchment fell out. It was yellowed with age and felt very fragile under my fingertips as I carefully opened it. The loopy scrawl was hard to make out but it seemed like they were directions.

It took me right up until curfew to decipher and follow just over half of the directions. I found myself standing in front of a tapestry depicting a centaur raising his bow to the sky. I made note of where this tapestry was so that I could come back to it and follow the rest of the directions.

When I got back to my dormitory, Blaise, Theo, Crabbe, and Goyle were all asleep. I hid the book and the parchment at the bottom of my trunk and happily let myself fall into a deep sleep.

**A/N: R.E.V.I.E.W. (Raise Each Voice In Echoing...W) ((Yeah, I have no idea what that is either, it's 2:30 in the morning, gimme a break))**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: This update took me a little longer than I thought it would but I've been starting a lot of oneshots and then while I was writing this I kept getting distracted by the internet. I like this chapter though :) Most of it anyway. Enjoy :)**

**Harry's POV**

Oh shit. I had lost it. Panicked, I dug through all the pockets in my robes. Why hadn't I put it back in my trunk as soon as I had looked up the directions? I pictured someone finding the journal and following the directions. I wouldn't be able to hide out there anymore if someone else knew where it was. What if someone came in while I was there?

I checked the time. It was nearly curfew, but if I was careful I could make it there and back without getting caught. Unfortunately, if I went back to the dormitory to get my Invisibility Cloak Ron would ask questions that I didn't want to answer.

When I got to the Entrance Hall I had to quick duck into an alcove as Malfoy appeared around a corner. I held my breath as he passed me. He stopped and turned, seeming to look right at me. I began to worry that he saw me. If he saw me, though, then why was he just standing there? He was almost as still as the statue that I was hiding behind. Shouldn't he be trying to draw as much attention to me as possible so that I'd get in trouble?

Malfoy took a step forward and I shrunk further into the shadows. He paused and turned his head like he had heard something. When he turned back towards the statue I was hiding behind there was something in his expression that I had only seen once before, right after he had kissed me. "Be careful." He said just loud enough for me to hear. "Filch is on his way." My mouth fell open. Malfoy was _helping_ me? First the kiss, and now this. Had hell frozen over?

As Malfoy walked towards the corridor that led to the dungeons, I hurried over to the corridor that held the door leading to Viola's painting, keeping an eye on Malfoy the entire way. When I turned the corner I heard Filch yell, "I've got you now!" I froze. He had caught me. I turned around and saw that the old caretaker had his back to me and was leading Malfoy away from where I stood and towards his office. "Out of bed past curfew, if I had my way, you'd be hanging from the ceiling by your toes, but since the Headmaster doesn't allow it you'll just be getting a detention."

Once again, my mouth fell open. Malfoy had known that Filch was coming. Had he really gotten caught just so Filch wouldn't catch me? Or had I just been lucky that Malfoy had been spotted before Filch could get to where I was hidden?

I didn't dwell long on the thought as I opened the door behind the tapestry. "What do you want?" Viola asked as I closed the door behind me.

"Has anyone else been in here today?" I asked, ignoring her cold tone.

She sniffed. "And why would I tell you if there was?"

I sighed. "Please Viola, just tell me."

For a while she just stared at me with expressionless eyes. "No, nobody has come in here today." She narrowed her eyes at me and her hair fell over her shoulder in a wave of silver. "Nobody." She repeated slowly, making sure that I knew I was included in that count.

(+)(+)(+)

The next day Ginny and I had a free period at the same time and were taking a walk around the grounds. Our gloved hands were joined as we tromped through the snow. "If we were walking around the castle past curfew," I said as we neared the lake, "and we heard Filch coming and there was nowhere nearby where we could hide –"

Ginny stopped walking and stared up at me with honest blue eyes. "Where is this coming from?" She asked.

I shrugged. "I just wanted you to know that if Filch was coming and there was nowhere to hide, I'd run towards Filch so that I'd get caught and you'd get away."

She laughed. "Harry James Potter, that is probably the sweetest, most ridiculous thing you have ever said to me." She blew on her hands through her gloves, trying to warm them. "Can we go back inside now while I still have fingers?" We walked back into the heated castle and went straight back up to the Common Room, sure that it would be empty when we got there and we'd have some alone time in front of the fire.

Unfortunately, I was wrong in that assumption. When Ginny and I climbed through the portrait hole we walked straight into the middle of an explosive fight between Hermione and Ron. I ducked a pillow thrown by Ron and then narrowly avoided a textbook flying across the room.

"What's going on in here?" I yelled as a quill punctured the back of an armchair that I was standing near.

"Ask her!" Ron yelled. His face was as red as a brand new Quaffle. "She's the one that started it."

"I didn't ask who started it." I said, quieter now that the fighting had calmed. "I asked what it was about." But by the time the words had finished leaving my mouth, the portrait of the Fat Lady was closing behind Ron. I sighed. He just needed time to cool off…I hoped.

Hermione's eyes began to well up. I opened my arms and she just fell into them, sobbing. Ginny began to straighten up the Common Room while I rubbed soothing circles into Hermione's back and led her over to the couch. Ginny sat down on the other side of Hermione and I gently extracted her from my arms. "What happened sweetie?" Ginny asked softly.

"I don't know. I came in after Arithmancy and he started yelling at me about how he knew that I'd been cheating on him." Cheating? That definitely didn't sound like Hermione. She was as loyal as they come. "I got angry with him for believing something he must've heard from someone else. One thing led to another and pretty soon…well, you saw it." She sniffled. "I just don't know where he would have heard something like that from or why he'd think I'd cheat on him. I love him."

"I know you do, Mione." Ginny smoothed her hair away from her tear streaked face. "But you know that Ron doesn't usually think things through before he acts. He probably misheard somebody and then jumped to conclusions." She hugged the older girl. "Besides, boys are stupid."

Ginny stood up. "Come on, lunch has probably started by now." I stood and began to follow my fiancée and my best friend but Ginny turned around and shook her head. "No, you need to go find Ron before he does something he's going to regret."

I knew that she was right but my stomach complained as I went up to the dormitory to get the Marauders' Map. Ron was in the Astronomy Tower. I tucked the map into the inside pocket of my robes just in case Ron wasn't there anymore when I got to the tower.

Fortunately, he was. "Hey." I said softly as I neared him. He glanced at me but didn't say anything. "Hermione told us what happened." He remained silent. "It sounds like you started it, not her."

He shook his head angrily. "She started it when she decided to cheat on me."

I sighed. "Ron, Hermione wouldn't cheat on you. She loves you."

"You're wrong!" He yelled. "I heard people talking about it. I'm not stupid Harry."

"I never said you were, Ron." I said quickly before he had the chance to explode. "Why don't you tell me exactly what you heard and from who?"

Ron was silent for a long time as he returned to the large window and stared out at the white grounds of Hogwarts. "I was in the library looking for Hermione when I heard some Ravenclaws talking at one of the tables near the back. I couldn't help but overhear. They were talking about how I'm so stupid for not realized that Hermione's been cheating on me for months."

"Were those the exact words that they used?" I asked.

"Well," Ron fidgeted, "no. They were being very vague. They just kept saying 'he' and 'she'."

Relieved, I clapped him on the shoulder. "Ron, they probably weren't talking about you and Hermione. They probably weren't even in our year. Most of the Ravenclaws in our year were in Arithmancy with Hermione at that time."

Ron gave a weird sort of chuckle. "I totally screwed up then, didn't I? Hermione's not going to forgive me for this one. Not easily, anyway."

My stomach and I were glad that we were finally on our way to lunch. "It'll all turn out in the end." I told him. "Just treat her right and next time, don't jump to conclusions."

"If there ever is a next time." Ron muttered as we sat down at the Gryffindor table.

(+)(+)(+)

After lunch Ron, Hermione, and I had NEWTs Potions. I told Ron and Hermione to go on without me, Hermione didn't seem too happy about that, because I wanted to drop the Marauders' Map off in my trunk before class. "Don't be late!" Hermione called after me as I ran down the corridor towards Gryffindor Tower.

When I got there, I headed straight for my trunk and then reached into the inner pocket of my robe to grab the Marauders' Map only to grab at fabric and air. Not again. I dug deeper into the pocket and noticed that there was a rather large hole in the bottom of the pocket. That must have been how I lost Thurston's journal and the directions to Viola's portrait as well.

I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down. At least with the Marauders' Map, whoever found it would just think it was an ordinary piece of old parchment. I shouldered my book bag and started jogging down to the dungeons.

Halfway there I started to panic again. I couldn't remember wiping the map clean before sticking it into my pocket. Usually I was so good about doing that, but I remembered that I had been starving and I wanted to find Ron quickly. What had I been thinking?

I slid into my seat about three seconds before Potions started. "Nice of you to join us, Potter." Snape sneered. I rolled my eyes and got my textbook, opening to page 684 so that Ron and I could continue with the potion that had been simmering since class yesterday.

When I was sure that Snape wouldn't be able to hear me, I leaned towards Ron and whispered, "I lost the Marauders' Map."

His hand slipped as he started to chop up the moonflower root. "What?"

"I lost the Marauders' Map." I repeated, keeping one eye on the brooding professor and one eye on our bubbling potion.

"Well, shit. That thing was bloody useful for sneaking out past curfew. At least we still have your Invisibility Cloak." He handed me the chopped moonflower root and I added it carefully to the potion. It turned a light shade of green that was definitely not the sage green that they had pictured in the book.

"You don't understand," I whispered urgently, "I didn't wipe the map clean before I put it in my pocket and that's the last time I saw it."

Ron froze with his hand inside the pickled toad jar. "We have to find that map."

**A/N: Review P.L.E.A.S.E. (Protect and Love Every Assassin Secretly Everyday) ((it's 2:40, I really need to stop staying up all night just to write these gosh darn chapters))**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N : ****Finally! My internet has not been working very well lately and I've really been wanting to update :D To all you readers who are waiting so patiently for some more hot HarryDraco action, just a few more chapters, I promise. And to ch4rm3ds3c0nds who has been with me since this story was just the strong urge to do a HarryDraco Veela fic, thank you for all of your support! I love you!**

**Enjoy :D **

**Draco's POV**

Interesting, I thought as I added the next ingredient to my potion. So that was what was written all over the parchment that I had picked up in the hallway earlier. Following Harry around was proving to be very useful. I decided that instead of going to lunch I'd go back to the tapestry since I had a detention with Filch tonight and would be unable to go then.

I wondered what was behind that tapestry as I leaned back on my stool and stared at the back of Harry's head as he finished his potion with Weasley. He turned to look at me and I didn't bother to avert my eyes. His face flushed red and he whipped back around to face the front of the classroom.

"What was that about?" I heard Weasley ask him. He just shook his head and added the next ingredient to their potion.

(+)(+)(+)

The tapestry was exactly where I remembered it being, which was good since so many things in this castle moved places on a daily basis. I took the yellowed piece of parchment out of my pocket. "Homopara." I whispered and a door appeared. I turned the handle but the door refused to open. Frowning, I looked at the directions and rolled my eyes when I saw that I had to turn the handle the other way. Whose stupid idea was that? The door shot open and revealed a narrow corridor with a large frame at the end. The frame was dusty and empty.

Before I could check the directions to see what to do, a young Veela with long silver hair walked into the painting and sat down in the armchair. "Hello." I said slowly. "I'm Draco."

"Viola." She said. "You must be Harry's Veela." I nodded. "He talks about you a lot." She said and I nearly had a heart attack.

"So he knows that he's my mate?"

She frowned. "I'm not sure. He said something once about overhearing you saying something like that and I've told him several times that only Veela and their mates can make the door appear, but he just doesn't believe me."

I sighed and leaned against the wall. "It's better off that way. He's engaged to his girlfriend of a year and a half. He's happy."

Viola crossed her arms. "You're not going to fight for him?" I shook my head. "He's your mate. He's the whole reason you were put on this earth. He completes you and you complete him and you're just going to let him marry someone else." I nodded. "But you'll die!"

"I know." I said resignedly. "He's happy with her though. If I tell him that he's my mate and make sure that he understands what that means, well, then I'm just going to cause unhappiness and force him to choose between saving my life by mating with me and marrying the girl he loves. I can't do that to him."

"He will love you though. He's made to love you." Viola looked furious. "You are disgracing the names of Veela everywhere by not pursuing your mate."

Silence fell over the narrow corridor as I thought about that. It wasn't that I didn't want to be with Harry. Merlin knows that I wanted that more than anything. I had never thought about it like that though. The more I thought about it though, the more I realized that I had never heard about a Veela who wouldn't tell their mate. Any Veela I had heard of that had died young it was always because their mates had rejected them or they hadn't found their mates in time. "I'm not trying to." I finally said. "I just don't want to hurt him."

She shook her head. "That's not what you're afraid of. You're afraid that he'll pick her over you." I had to admit that it had been something I had been worrying about. "You need to buck up and tell him though. You deserve to have your mate."

I left the corridor feeling unsure and strange. Should I listen to Viola and try to win Harry over. He was my mate after all and it was almost guaranteed that he would eventually choose me over Ginny because we were made for each other, especially if our kiss was anything to go by.

(+)(+)(+)

That night in detention I had a lot of time to think while Filch had me cleaning the third floor corridor where a couple of fourth years had thrown dungbombs all over the walls. I wanted to love Harry and have Harry love me, but was I willing to make him leave his fiancée for me?

Blaise showed up and sat down against the one section of wall that I had already cleaned. "Where were you at lunch today? I wanted to ask you earlier but there was never a moment when we were alone."

I dipped my brush in water and continued scrubbing at the wall. "I was talking to somebody."

"Harry?" He asked hopefully. I shook my head. He sagged against the wall, disappointed. "Well then who was it?"

"Just someone." I said. I didn't want to tell him about Viola's portrait because I felt like it should just remain between me and Harry.

Blaise sighed. "Fine, don't tell me."

I finished cleaning the next section of wall and turned to Blaise. "Are you going to help me here or not?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to tell me who you were talking to at lunch or not?" That, right there, was the only downfall to having friends that were in Slytherin. They were just as manipulative as you were.

"I guess you're not going to help me then." I said as I turned back to the next dirty section of wall. "But don't blame me when I'm too tired to take notes in History of Magic tomorrow."

Blaise looked torn between wanting to know what I had been up to earlier today and the fact that I was the only reason he was passing History of Magic. Finally, he waved his wand and spelled away the dungbomb residue that I had yet to clean. "I hate you sometimes." He muttered.

I grinned and stood. "I'd get back to the dormitory if I were you." I told the Dark Veela. "You're stinking up this hallway worse than the dungbombs and Filch is on his way here."

Before he left, Blaise said, "I don't see why you can't tell me where you were today. It's not like I'm going to tell anybody else. You know that." He disappeared into the shadows before I had the chance to say anything. Guilt gripped my heart which was exactly what Blaise had been aiming for.

Filch turned the corner. "Done already?" I nodded silently. He inspected the walls before grudgingly handing me my wand. I raced back to the Common Room as fast as my feet would carry me. I just wanted today to be over.

When I got to the dormitory, Blaise was already asleep. I changed out of my robes and into my silk pajama bottoms. Climbing into bed, I pulled out the map and studied it carefully. I still had no idea how it worked, but I knew that it did, seeing a dot labeled as Harry Potter pacing in the Gryffindor Common Room. As I fell asleep I wondered what he was thinking about.

**A/N: Reviews are L.O.V.E.D. (Loopy Or Extremely Desired) ((no excuse for doing that this time, it's just fun))**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N: well, this is definitely one of my longest chapters. I definitely wouldn't have made it so long if I didn't think that there was a lot that should be addressed in this chapter and not split into a different chapter. I hope you like it. Fair warning though, it might get a little poorly written as you get closer to the end of the chapter, it's late and i'm tired and there's a lot on my mind right now. Another fair warning, if I don't post as often after this, I'm sorry, but I'm going through some family problems right now and they might demand my full attention. Happy Reading :)**

**Harry's POV**

I still couldn't believe it. In two days I had gone and lost both the journal, complete with directions to Viola's portrait and the room she guarded, and the Marauders' Map. I stopped pacing and sat down on the couch in front of the dying fire. What was even worse was that I hadn't even cleared the Marauders' Map. Someone could be watching me at that very moment.

"Harry," Hermione came down the steps from the girl's dormitory and put her hand on my shoulder, "Just go to bed. Staying up all night worrying isn't going to solve anything." I let her lead me to the stairs to the boy's dormitory. "Goodnight Harry."

"Goodnight Hermione."

(+)(+)(+)

The next morning my mood had lifted slightly. I sat with Hermione, Ginny, and Ron at breakfast. The four of us talked happily and Hermione scolded Ron lightly for not having finished his Defense Against the Dark Arts essay. I was glad to see that they were no longer fighting.

Morning post arrived and an owl landed in front of Hermione with a large package attached to its leg. Hermione grinned and announced, "Mum and Dad have sent a care package." The four of us gathered around her because a care package always meant lots of goodies for all of us. Since I was so focused on the homemade cookies that Hermione was taking out of the care package, I didn't even notice that an owl had landed in front of me with a letter until it pecked at my fingers angrily.

I untied the letter from its leg and it hooted angrily at me before flying away. "Who's that from?" Ginny asked me and I shrugged. The writing on the envelope was unfamiliar. I noticed Malfoy staring at me from across the Great Hall and suddenly knew who the letter was from. I quickly averted my eyes and tucked the letter into my pocket. "Well aren't you going to open it?" Ginny asked.

I smiled at her. "It's not important right now." I told her. She kissed my cheek.

When I got out of the Great Hall, I headed straight for the Common Room, claiming that I had forgotten my Charms essay in the dormitory. As soon as I was sure that I was the only person in the Common Room, I tore open the envelope.

_Harry, I know that I'm probably the last person on this earth that you would want to hear this from, but we need to talk. I'll be waiting for you at Viola's portrait at curfew. Draco._

Malfoy knew about Viola which meant that Malfoy had found the journal and directions. I wondered if he had the map as well as I scurried off to Charms.

"What took you so long?" Hermione hissed as I sat down next to her.

"It took me a while to find my essay." I lied as I handed it down the row to where Professor Flitwick was collecting them.

"Well maybe if you were more organized this wouldn't happen and you'd actually be on time for class." She said as Professor Flitwick began the lesson.

(+)(+)(+)

Curfew came far quicker than I had hoped. I waited a while for Hermione and Ron to go to bed. "Don't stay up too late Harry." Hermione said as she hugged me goodnight. I smiled at her and as soon as her back disappeared up the stairs, I threw on my Invisibility Cloak and walked slowly to the tapestry in the corridor just off the Entrance Hall.

As I turned the handle of the door behind the tapestry, I half hoped that Malfoy would have given up on waiting for me to show and he wouldn't be there. To my surprise, the narrow corridor was empty when I stepped through the doorway. "He's inside." Viola said, crushing the joy that had bubbled up inside my chest.

"Kindred Spirits." I mumbled and Viola swung forward.

"I was beginning to think you weren't going to show." Malfoy said, standing as I entered the room. "But then I saw you coming on this handy map here." He held up the Marauders' Map and I was glad that I at least knew where it was now, but I wasn't sure how I felt about Malfoy having it. Something inside me told me that I could trust him with it. "You know, you walk really slowly. It's a wonder that you get to any of your classes on time."

"What did you want to talk to me about, Malfoy?" I hadn't come here to make small talk with the Slytherin.

Malfoy sighed and put the map back on the table. I saw the journal there as well. "We really need to talk about what happened in Hogsmeade." He said.

I shook my head. "No we don't. We've been over this. I'd just like to pretend that it didn't happen so I can have a normal relationship with my fiancée."

"I can't pretend that it didn't happen." Malfoy said.

"Sure you can. Have one of your friends Obliviate you or something." I suggested. I really just wanted to get back to Gryffindor Tower.

"You don't understand. It's physically impossible for me to forget about it." He said and I ran a hand through my already messy hair. What was his problem? I began to say something but he yelled, "Harry! You're my mate," over whatever it was I was saying. I froze, positive that I had just misheard him with the both of us trying to say something at the same time. "This isn't how I wanted to tell you." He sighed. "At first I really didn't want to tell you at all because you're with Weas…Ginny and I didn't want to make you choose because I was afraid that you'd reject me."

I was stunned speechless. Was he playing some sort of practical joke?

"I'm a Veela, Harry." Malfoy said slowly, looking at me worriedly. "And you're my mate. We're destined to be together, but I can understand where you're coming from if you still want to be with Ginny."

It was a while before I could say anything. "What will happen to you if I do stay with Ginny?"

Malfoy just stared at me. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other uneasily. The silence was heavy and I wished that Malfoy would just say something already. "Nothing would happen." He finally said. "You'd marry Ginny and I'd leave you alone and live my own life."

There was something in his tone that made me not believe him. "Would you ever be able to fall in love with someone else?"

"No." Malfoy said instantly. "You're my mate and even if we are not together falling in love with someone else would be considered cheating on you and it would kill me."

So he'd be alone for the rest of his life. No one deserved that, not even Malfoy. "How long do I have to decide?"

Something glinted in Malfoy's eyes. "Until my 18th birthday at the beginning of June."

"What happens if I don't decide by then?" There were small inconsistencies that were bothering me.

Malfoy's face flushed and I knew I had cornered him into telling me the truth. "I'll die." He said simply.

I nodded. "So if I don't decide whether I want to be with you or not by your 18th birthday you'll die, but not if I reject you?"

He stared at me forlornly. "No, I'll die if you reject me." He said finally. "But I don't want that to be the only reason that you'll be with me. If you do choose to be with me," if the look on his face was anything to go by, he knew as much as I did how long of a shot that was, "then I want it to be out of love and not necessity."

I knew that I didn't love Malfoy, but I didn't want him to die because of me either. The guilt would just be too much to bear. "I do still have time to think about it though?" He nodded. "Alright, then I will. I promise." He looked doubtful.

"I have to give you a fair warning." He said as I turned to leave. "Now that you know that you're my mate and you haven't rejected me outright, it's going to be harder for me to stay away from you."

My mind flashed back to the kiss that we had shared in the alley at Hogsmeade the day we returned to Hogwarts from holidays. Recalling what he had said about it a few minutes ago, I got curious. "Is it really physically impossible for you to forget about…well, forget about what happened in Hogsmeade?"

He nodded. "You are my other half. You complete me, as cheesy as that sounds. Fate made us to be the perfect couple and so no matter how many spells are cast on me or how many potions I'm given to make me forget about you, they'll never work. You are imprinted in my DNA."

I left the room, confused. I couldn't picture myself ever loving Malfoy, but I didn't hate him anymore either. It seemed like we almost had a sort of tentative friendship.

When I got back to Gryffindor Tower, I went straight up to the dormitory and slipped between my covers. Curling myself around my pillow, I wondered how I was going to even be able to look at Ginny now. All I was going to be able to see was guilt, knowing now that if I continued my relationship with her then I was literally killing Malfoy.

(+)(+)(+)

"Are you alright, Harry?" Ginny asked me the next morning as we walked to breakfast. I flashed a quick look at her before averting my eyes to look at the paintings lining the corridor instead. "You look like you hardly slept a wink and you haven't been able to look at me for more than a second all morning." I could see her put her hands on her slender hips out of the corner of my eye. "Is there something you're keeping from me?"

The truth was is that I had not slept more than half an hour. Everytime I closed my eyes for a few minutes I kept seeing Malfoy's body being lowered into the ground and his parents glaring at me from the other side of the grave with accusing eyes. What had been worse was when I had fallen asleep for nearly twenty minutes and found myself dreaming about Ginny lying naked amongst rose petals on Malfoy's grave. "This is what you had wanted, isn't it?" Dream Ginny had asked in a seductive voice. "Malfoy dead so that the two of us could be together?"

"Harry!" Ginny snapped me back to the present and I looked at her, surprised, before quickly looking away again. "Harry James Potter, I swear to Merlin that if you do not look at me right now I will take this ring and throw it to the Giant Squid!"

I turned and looked at her. There was fire in her blue eyes. I loved that about her, that passion for life and that stubbornness to get whatever it was that she wanted. I loved everything about her, but the euphoric feeling that that love used to bring had now been replaced by this overwhelming guilt. "I'm sorry Ginny." I said and I wanted nothing more than to wrap my arms around her and bury my face in her sweet smelling hair, pretending that all last night had been a dream, but I couldn't. "You're right. I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. I kept having these nightmares."

"Were they…?" I shook my head and she visibly relaxed. "Would you like to talk about them? Maybe it would help."

"Yes, I would like to talk about them. I'll meet you at the Room of Requirement for dinner and we'll eat and then we'll talk." She smiled warmly and the guilt intensified. If only she knew what it was we were going to be talking about, then she wouldn't be smiling at me like that. She'd be yelling and crying and cursing at me and hitting me and I'd just stand there and take it. It was what I deserved.

We reached the Great Hall and I paused outside the large doors. "I think I'm just going to take a walk." I told Ginny. "I'm not very hungry." That was definitely an understatement. The thought of food made me want to throw up right there on the spot.

"Would you like me to come with you?" She asked and I shook my head. "Are you sure?"

I nodded. "I think I just need a little time alone right now." She seemed to understand and rose up to kiss me. I pressed a chaste kiss to her cheek and backed away quickly. "I'll see you tonight." I told her before turning around a corner and breaking into a run.

I ran and I ran until my emotional turmoil had turned into physical exhaustion. I slumped down against the wall. Malfoy turned the corner and saw me. Great, that's exactly what I need at that moment.

Malfoy sat down next to me. "Are you okay?" He asked, mirroring Ginny's concerned tone perfectly.

"No!" I started. "I'm not okay. There is absolutely no poss—" I never got to finish my sentence because Malfoy's soft lips had once again covered mine. Before I knew what I was doing, I was leaning into the kiss. I mentally kicked myself as I pulled away. "You can't go around kissing me like that. You're definitely not making this any easier on me. I can't even look at my fiancée anymore without feeling guilty. I can't even _kiss_ her." I pulled at my hair furiously and Malfoy wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

"I'm sorry." He said softly. "I didn't want this to happen, but you're my mate. You have no idea how hard it's been for me to watch to with her all year. Even before I accepted you as my mate it was painful for me to see you kissing her and looking at her with gentle eyes and knowing that you would probably never kiss me the same way or look at me with the same eyes."

"You had to accept me as your mate first?" I asked in disbelief.

He nodded. "I know what you're going through, for the most part." He pulled away and stood up. "And I know it's not easy."

"It was probably easier for you." I said angrily. "You didn't have the person that was making you decide jumping out from around corners and kissing you senseless."

Malfoy smirked, but it wasn't the same smirk that I was used to after six and a half years of being rivals. "I know, but it's hard for me to resist. You are my mate after all." He walked away and I hit my head against the wall.

(+)(+)(+)

Ginny was waiting for me outside the Room of Requirement. She smiled and hugged me tightly. I returned the embrace as enthusiastically as I could manage. She led me through the door and I was greeted by a table for two set up with a wonderful dinner and a comfortable looking, blue couch. "I figured we'd eat a little and then we could talk."

"Actually," I shifted away from her uncomfortably, "I'd rather get the talking over with, and then if you're still up for dinner I'll sit with you, but I'm not very hungry myself."

Her face fell a little, but she sat down cross legged on the couch. I sat down next to her, but kept my distance. "Yesterday, after curfew, I went to talk to Malfoy."

"Have you been fighting with him again?" She asked. "I told you that you should talk to Professor McGonagall about that."

I shook my head. "No, it was nothing like that. He was the one that sent me the letter at breakfast yesterday. You see, I lost the Marauders' Map and I hadn't cleared it and I don't know how, but he knew it was mine." I really didn't want to tell her about the journal and the room. "He actually didn't want to blackmail me with it, as I had expected him to, but he used it to get me to meet with him." Ginny's face was hard to decipher. "Long story short," I took a deep breath and shifted as far away from Ginny as I could, just in case, "he told me that he's a Veela, and I…well, I'm his mate."

I braced myself for a violent outburst of cursing and scratching and hair pulling, but none of that came. Ginny sat in silence, staring at the floor. "Ginny, I still love you, more than anything in this world, but if I reject him then he's going to die and I wouldn't be able to live with myself after that. If there was any other way, trust me I—"

"No." She cut me off, shaking her head. She looked up at me and smiled shakily. "It's okay Harry. I understand. If he's a Veela and you're his mate then you should be with him. I don't want to come between the two of you." There were tears in her eyes. "I'm happy for you, Harry." She sniffled and a tear escaped down her cheek. "A Veela love is something every girl only dreams of." I could only watch helplessly as she ran out of the Room of Requirement.

That…had gone better, and yet worse, than expected. At least if she had gotten angry and yelled and hit I would have known that it was what I deserved. I wasn't sure what to feel about her acceptance and it hurt me worse than anything to see that I had hurt her.

**A/N: So...I have absolutely no idea where the story is going after this...review?**


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: I'm sorry that this chapter was so long in coming and I'm sorry that it's so short, but I really didn't know what was going to happen in this chapter, so it was hard to write a lot. I do have an excuse for not writing for a while though, I had a fifteen page assignment to write and then I had a four day vacation to visit with family without any internet, so...yeah. I hope you like this chapter :) Happy reading**

**Harry's POV**

After Ginny had left, I remained in the Room of Requirements. I couldn't bring myself to leave and face Ron or Hermione. It was unsettling how well Ginny had taken that.

When I started to get tired, a bed dressed in Gryffindor colors appeared where the table had been moments before. I stripped down to my boxers and slipped under the covers. I tossed and turned, trying to get comfortable.

Three hours passed and I figured that there was no way that I'd be getting any sleep. I snuck out of the Room of Requirement, wishing that I had the Marauders' Map. Luckily, I made it down to the Entrance Hall without being spotted.

"You're out quite late." Viola said as the door closed behind me.

"Kindred Spirits." I grumbled and she swung open.

Malfoy was sitting in one of the armchairs in the main room. "Hello." He said, standing up.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"Well, when you disappeared from the map at around dinner I began to get worried."

"So you were watching me?" I interrupted. He didn't say anything. "Look, Malfoy, I get that I'm your mate and I get that you care about me, but I really just need some time alone right now."

I could tell that what I had said hurt Malfoy, but at the moment I was hurting too much myself to care. Malfoy picked the map up from the arm of the chair he had been sitting in. "I think you should have this back." He said as he handed it to me.

"Now, why did you make him leave?" Viola asked after Malfoy had left and I looked up at her second painting that hung over the chair. "He was only here to comfort you."

"What are you talking about?"

"He figured that you'd be upset after talking to Ginny and was here to see if you needed anything or wanted to talk about it."

"Well it's his fault that all this happened so he's the last person that I want to see right now." I grumbled as I pulled the book from the bookcase that made it open into the bedroom. As the bookcase shut behind me, I realized that that was a lie. The last person that I wanted to see right now was Ron. He would be furious with me for breaking it off with Ginny.

(+)(+)(+)

Three days later I hadn't gone to any classes and had been asking Dobby to bring my meals to me. I was terrified of losing Ron because of what had happened and I was sure that Hermione wouldn't be happy with me either. The only person that I had any contact with was Malfoy. He showed up every night after dinner and tried to talk to me and every night I ignored him until he left. For this, Viola was furious with me.

The portrait swung open and in walked Malfoy, right on time. "You really should get out of here. Everyone's really worried about you and you'll probably end up failing the N.E.W.T.s because of all the classes you're missing."

I ignored him as I started reading a book on Veela mates that I had found on one of the bookshelves. _Veela mates are almost a creature of their own._

"Look, Harry, I know that you're mad at me and"

_They have natural protective instincts._

"I'm sorry, but I'm"

_Usually their skills in Defensive magic far exceed anything else._

"starting to worry about you."

I closed the book. "Malfoy, I don't mean to be rude, but I really just need some time to think."

He looked pained as he took a step back towards the exit. "Are you…?"

"No, I'm not regretting my decision." Malfoy looked relieved. "I just need some time to wrap my mind around this whole concept."

(+)(+)(+)

That night I left my safe haven and went back up to Gryffindor Tower. Hermione jumped up from the couch and ran over to me as soon as I climbed through the portrait hole. "We've been so worried." She hugged me. She pulled back and slapped me across the face. "That's for making everyone think that you'd been taken." She slapped me again. "And that's for what you did to Ginny." She said as I rubbed my quickly reddening cheek.

"Look, Hermione, I can explain." I said.

She held up a hand. "No, don't explain to me." She crossed her arms over her chest and backed away. "Ron is the one you need to explain to." I watched as she went up to the girls' dormitory.

No sooner had she disappeared than Ron appeared at the top of the staircase that led up to the boys' dormitory. "I thought I heard your voice." He said angrily and I mentally groaned. This was not going to be fun. "How could you do that to Ginny? She's loved you for years and you just toss her aside as soon as someone else comes along."

"Ron, it's not like…"

"Don't lie to me. Ginny told me about Malfoy. Have the two of you been sneaking around together behind everyone's backs? How could you turn your back on all of us? Malfoy is the enemy! He's a Junior Death Eater."

"Ron!" I shouted and the redhead shut his mouth and fumed silently. "Did Ginny tell you everything?" He didn't say anything. "Because if she didn't then you should know that Malfoy is a Veela."

Ron crossed his arms and turned away.

"You come from a magical family, Ron. You know that this isn't something he or I can control. I'm really sorry that it had to happen, but you have to know that I didn't want to put Ginny through that. I still love her, Ron. This is hurting me too."

"I don't believe you!" Ron exploded. "If this was hurting you as much as you've hurt her then you wouldn't be doing this. You'd marry Ginny and…"

"And what?" I asked. "Just sit back and let Malfoy die?" I shook my head. "I don't think so Ron. I wouldn't be able to do that."

Silence fell. I looked around the Common Room, the tension unbearable. Ron seemed to be calming down slightly. "I really am sorry…"

Ron shook his head. "Just don't talk to me right now." He said and walked back up to the boy's dormitory.

I hadn't expected that to have gone any better. In fact, I had been expecting it to be a lot worse. The fire crackled as I made myself a bed on the couch.

**A/N: Well there you go :) Can I get an R? E? V-I-E-W? Yeah, i know that was weird. Sorry.**


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: Hello there users of FanFiction! How have you all been? Good, good. So here's chapter 19 of Soul Mate! I'm sure that you're all very happy that it's finally posted. :) I took a short break from writing and read about...15-16 books instead. Sorry that you've had to wait so long because of that. You shouldn't have to wait that long for the next chapter. I also had finals and then my friend made me write the next...'chapter' of something that we're coauthoring and it made me realize just how much I've missed writing.  
Sorry that this chapter's so short, but when you get to the end you'll see why. **

**Draco's POV**

I was getting really tired of Harry brushing me off. It wasn't that I didn't understand that he needed time, because I did, but he didn't have to be so cold to me. Honestly, if he kept this up for much longer then we wouldn't have much time left to bond.

When I entered the Great Hall, intending to grab some breakfast to bring to Harry, I noticed him sitting alone at the end of Gryffindor Table. I hastily sat down at the Slytherin Table and scrawled a note onto a piece of parchment. I charmed the parchment and watched it fly towards Harry.

It hit him in the back of his head and he glanced around the room before unfolding it and reading the note. I waited for him to leave the Great Hall before tailing him all the way to the library. He didn't notice me until he reached the back corner of the library. "What do you want?" He asked sharply.

My chest tightened and I took a step back. Harry's anger was sending waves of pain through my body. "I'm sorry." I said instinctively.

"What for?" He asked, his tone still sharp and angry. "It's not your fault that all this happened. You didn't pick me as your mate. It all just happened on its own."

"Then why are you so angry with me?" I asked.

Harry looked startled. "I'm not angry with you."

"Well it feels like it." I said, clutching at my chest where the pain had built up, forcing tears into my throat and voice.

"I'm sorry." He ran a hand through his hair. "I'm just frustrated because Ron's won't talk to me and Hermione, well, she's not much better." He sounded so broken. I wanted to wrap my arms around him and never let him go, but I didn't think he'd take that very well so I restrained myself. "And Ginny," he sighed and leaned against a book case, "she won't even stay in the same room as me. Everytime she sees me she runs off crying."

I rested a hand tentatively on his arm. "I'm sorry Harry. I can't even imagine how hard all of this is for you." Harry didn't say anything. I inched closer. "I wish I didn't have to put you through this." I whispered.

For a while we just stood there, my hand on his arm. "So, you wanted to talk to me?" Harry asked after several minutes of silence.

I felt bad bringing this up after everything that had just happed. "Yeah, I just wanted to let you know that I'd really like to start dating you right now." He opened his mouth to interrupt so I continued quickly. "It's just that we don't have a lot of time to get to know each other and we have to bond before my next birthday which is in less than six months and I don't want to have to bond with you if you're not ready." I stopped to catch my breath.

Harry was silent. I waited for his response as patiently as I could. "Draco, I know that we don't exactly have the most time in the world, but I need some right now."

"But why?" I asked without meaning to. "I'm sorry." I said as I recomposed myself. "Take as much time as you need." I brushed some of his messy hair out of his face. "Just, don't take too long." Harry laughed softly.

Throughout the course of the rest of my classes I kept glancing at Harry, trying to catch his eye. In the two classes we didn't have together, I spent most of my time daydreaming about him and wondering how much longer it would be before he'd be ready.

During dinner Blaise was going on and on about who he thought his mate might be. I pretended to listen as I stared at Harry. Every now and then he'd look up and turn red as he met my eyes. I pushed my food around my plate.

Suddenly Blaise's hand was in front of my face. "Draco, hello? Are you even listening to me?"

"Of course I am."

Blaise nodded. "Oh, I wasn't sure since you didn't react at all when I said that Pansy had run off with Professor Snape and that Professor McGonagall had slipped a love potion into your pumpkin juice."

I laughed, but eyed my drink suspiciously. Even though I knew that Blaise had just been checking to see if I was listening, love potions were poisonous to Veelas who have not yet bonded with their mate.

(+)(+)(+)

"Thanks for meeting me up here." I said when I saw Harry waiting for me in the Astronomy Tower.

"It's not like I have friends to sit with anymore anyway." Harry said. "Ron's still not talking to me, Hermione's furious with me so I don't want to talk to her right now, and Ginny still runs away crying whenever she sees me. Seamus, Dean, and Neville have no idea what's going on so they're just basing their actions off of what Hermione and Ron are doing." He sighed. "So, was there something you wanted to talk about?"

I shook my head. "I just wanted to be with you."

Harry smiled, but he looked a little uneasy. "I brought some breakfast for you." He handed me a goblet of pumpkin juice and a plate of steaming food that I hadn't noticed sitting next to him.

"Aren't you going to eat?" I asked, noticing that there was only one plate.

He shook his head. "I'm not hungry."

I frowned. "That's not an excuse. Here, have some of my food. I don't need all of this." While Harry nibbled at a piece of toast, I took a long drink from my goblet of pumpkin juice. "Did you put something in my drink?" I asked after I had swallowed. There was a strange after taste and my tongue was starting to feel heavy.

"No." Harry said. "Draco, Draco, are you okay."

I was having trouble keeping my eyes open and my mouth had gone stone dry. "

**A/N: OH NO! Draco's dead! (Don't worry, he's not really dead)**


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: I'm very proud of this chapter. It's the longest so far. And I didn't even get to the point that I wanted to! And you guys didn't have to wait weeks for it! I'm on a role. Enjoy :)**

**Harry's POV**

I watched Draco collapse onto the ground and froze. What the hell had just happened? He had said something just before he passed out but he had been speaking too quietly for me to hear. I gathered him up in my arms and left the Astronomy Tower as quickly as I could. It could have just been my panicked delirium as I ran towards the Hospital Wing, but I could have sworn I heard him breathing.

When I got to the Hospital Wing, Madame Pomfrey led me to an empty bed and waited until he was under the covers before asking me what had happened. "I don't know." I said. "He was fine one minute and then the next minute he was asking me if I had put something in his drink before collapsing."

"And did you?" Madame Pomfrey asked calmly.

"Did I what?"

"Put something in his drink."

"No! Why would I do something like that?"

She started checking Draco's vitals. "From what I hear, you and Mr. Malfoy don't get along very well."

"That's not true anymore." I said, sitting down next to Draco's bed. "I'd never be able to hurt him. He's my soul mate." The words were out of my mouth before they had even registered in my brain. It's not that that wasn't true, I just had never really looked at him like that yet.

Madame Pomfrey didn't say anything else after that. "Is he going to be okay?" I asked after several minutes of unbearable silence.

"I don't know yet and you hovering there isn't going to make me know any faster." She said impatiently. "Why don't you make yourself useful and go find Professor Snape?"

I didn't want to leave Draco's side, but I knew that his father and Snape were close so maybe he had a better idea of what had happened to Draco.

Professor Snape was in his classroom when I got there and several students were already sitting in their seats waiting for class to start. I hurried to the front of the room. Snape looked up as I approached his desk. "Do you need something Mr. Potter?" He sneered.

"Draco's in the Hospital Wing and Madame Pomfrey doesn't know what's wrong with him. She sent me to come get you." I murmured so that no one else would overhear.

Snape stood immediately and rushed out of the room, his robes billowing out behind him. I followed him as quickly as I could, but his were far longer than mine and so I ended up getting to the Hospital Wing a minute or two after him, slightly out of breath. "I don't see why you need to be here, Mr. Potter." Snape said as I came up on the other side of Draco's bed.

"Calm down Severus." Madame Pomfrey said sternly. "Mr. Potter was with Mr. Malfoy when this happened."

"When what happened?" Snape roared. "No one has told me what's happened to my godson."

Madame Pomfrey motioned to me and then disappeared into her office. "Well, you see," I started, "Draco and I were in the Astronomy Tower-"

"Why weren't you at breakfast?" Snape interrupted.

I sighed. "Because I haven't been on the best of terms with my friends lately. Anyway, Draco and I were in the Astronomy Tower-"

"No doubt you were fighting. Five points from Gryffindor."

"No! I was there because he had asked me to meet me there."

"And why in the world would he do that?"

"Because I'm his mate!" I yelled in exasperation.

Silence fell as Snape looked me up and down. "Continue." He finally said.

"Draco and I were in the Astronomy Tower talking and then things got a little awkward and so I gave him the breakfast that I had brought with me for him." I paused to make sure that he wasn't going to interrupt me. "He insisted that I eat some of it as well since I hadn't eaten anything. I was eating a piece of toast and Draco was drinking the pumpkin juice and suddenly his eyes went all unfocused. It was like he was looking at me but he really wasn't seeing me. He asked me if I had put anything in his drink, but I didn't." I said before Snape could ask me the same thing that Madame Pomfrey had. Surprisingly though, it didn't look as if he had been about to.

Snape studied Draco for a while. "Did you tell anyone that you were going to meet Mr. Malfoy?" I shook my head. "Did anybody know that the food was for Mr. Malfoy?" I shook my head again. "I think Mr. Malfoy might have ingested something that was meant for you."

I gulped. "You mean, someone was trying to kill me?"

"Maybe, but it could have been something else." I was confused. What was he talking about? He lifted one of Draco's eyelids with his thumb. "Do you still have the pumpkin juice that Mr. Malfoy drank?" I nodded. "Bring it to me."

I ran out of the Hospital Wing and back up to the Astronomy Tower. Luckily classes had already started and I didn't have to push through crowded corridors. When I got back to the Hospital Wing, Snape was pouring something into Draco's mouth. "So you figured out what was wrong with him?" I asked, relieved yet annoyed that my run to the Astronomy Tower and back had been for nothing.

"I have a reasonable assumption." It stunned me how stupid he could make me feel with just that simple statement. Like I should have known what was wrong with Draco from the start.

"So you don't need this?" I asked, holding up the goblet that was still half full of pumpkin juice.

"Of course I need that." He said and I felt stupid again. "I wouldn't have sent you to get it if I didn't need it." He took the goblet from me. "What I just administered to Mr. Malfoy was a potion that would stop the spread of the poison."

"So someone _was_ trying to kill me!" I yelled, shocked.

Snape looked at me with his cold eyes and I quickly shut my mouth. "Before I administer an antidote, I have to be sure of what exactly it was that he ingested." He poured a few drops of a clear potion into the pumpkin juice. "Why don't you get to class, Mr. Potter?" He said without looking up.

(+)(+)(+)

As soon as classes were over, I rushed up to the Hospital Wing. My hopes were dashed when I saw that Draco was still unconscious. "Is he going to be okay?" I asked Madame Pomfrey.

"We're still not sure. The poison did quite a lot of damage before it was stopped." She looked at me sympathetically. "I'll leave you two alone."

I sat down next in the chair next to his bed. His skin looked paler than usual and had a sickly looking tinge to it. I fiddled with the hem of my robes. I felt like this was all my fault. Whoever had put the poison in the goblet had meant for me to drink it. I should be the one on the hospital bed right now. "I'm so sorry." I murmured as tears streamed down my face.

For two hours, I sat at Draco's bedside, holding his hand afraid that he'd die if I let go. Not once did his shallow breaths grow stronger. His eyelids never opened. He never moved even a single muscle. Madame Pomfrey came and went multiple times and Snape even came once to get a blood sample.

"Nothing's going to change tonight." Madame Pomfrey told me half an hour before curfew. "You might as well go back to Gryffindor Tower and get some sleep."

"But what if—?"

"If anything happens I will personally come get you, now shoo." She cut me off and herded me out of the Hospital Wing.

I walked slowly up to Gryffindor Tower. When I got there, Ginny was sitting on the couch in front of the fire. Her robes were draped over the back of the couch and her tie was hanging very loosely around her neck. "Hello Harry." She said hesitantly.

"Hey Ginny." I said slowly, wondering what had changed since she wasn't breaking down in tears and running away. "What's up?"

"I'm so glad you changed your mind." She said. I looked at her and tried to figure out what she had really said because I couldn't have heard her correctly. "And you don't have to worry about telling Ron. I showed him the letter that you sent me." She ran to me and threw her arms around my waist.

As gently as I could, I pulled away from her and held her arms to her sides. She was grinning up at me so happily and it killed me to know that I had to do this to her again. "Ginny, I don't know what you're talking about. I never sent you a letter."

She frowned slightly. "Of course you did." She pulled away and began rummaging through her bag. "See, it's right here." She held up a slightly wrinkled piece of parchment. "Dear Ginny," she read, "I'm so sorry for these past few weeks. Everything happened so quickly that I just needed space and time to think about it. Now that I have, I realize that you're the only person that I will ever love. I hope you will take me back. Love forever, Harry." She held it out to me.

I took it from her and read through it. It looked exactly like my handwriting for the most part, but the signature was too loopy to be mine. "I'm sorry Ginny, I didn't write this."

Her eyes glistened as she took the letter from me. "What are you talking about? Of course you did." She sniffled and pointed to the signature. "See, you signed it. You still want me, see. You say so right here." She said desperately.

It brought tears to my eyes to see her so broken again. "No, Ginny, I didn't write that. I'm sorry, I really am, but someone else must have written that letter and sent it to you."

She sobbed and rambled on about how that was not possible, but I was only able to understand a few words through the tears. I shouldered my bag again and, after apologizing to Ginny again, left Gryffindor Tower.

By the time I reached the Entrance Hall it was twenty minutes past curfew and I was dead on my feet. "Kindred Spirits." I mumbled sleepily as I approached Viola's portrait. The frame swung open and I ignored her grumbling complaints as I stepped inside. I fell asleep quickly after stripping down to my undershirt and boxers.

(+)(+)(+)

"Harry." The whisper echoed loudly in the empty room. I sat up quickly. Madame Pomfrey was standing over me. "Harry, I'm sorry, Draco passed away an hour ago."

I turned my head away from her so that she wouldn't see me cry. As I did, I saw Draco standing on the other side of the room. He looked paler than a ghost and there was a sadness to his features that made my heart ache. "I'm sorry Draco. I'm so sorry."

"You were supposed to be there."

"I know, Draco, I'm sorry, I had to get some sleep."

"There are plenty of beds in the Hospital Wing. Why couldn't you sleep there? I died alone. I thought you were my mate. I thought you'd be there for me." The sadness turned to anger.

"Draco, I'm sorry." I said again, but he didn't seem to have heard me.

The room seemed to shrink. "As if that's not bad enough, it's your fault that I'm dead."

I shook my head. "No, Draco, I didn't know. How could I have known?"

"It was meant for you."

"I'm sorry."

"It's your fault I'm dead."

"Draco, please forgive me." Tears dripped from my chin and sounded like waves crashing against the shore as they splashed onto the blanket.

"It's your fault that I died alone."

(+)(+)(+)

I jerked awake. A sheen of sweat covered my body, causing my clothes and the blanket to stick to my damp skin. Draco's ghost was not in my room and there was no way Madame Pomfrey would have been able to find me here.

Shit. There was no way Madame Pomfrey would be able to find me here. What was I thinking? What if she had been searching the castle for me? What if Draco really was dying? I dressed as quickly as I could and then rushed to the Hospital Wing faster than a Firebolt.

"Mr. Potter, what are you doing here at this time of night?" Madame Pomfrey asked sleepily as she rushed out of her office.

"Is Draco okay?"

"Mr. Malfoy is fine. I have alarms placed on him to warn me if anything changes. I told you I'd come find you if anything happened." She sounded cross and I didn't blame her.

I looked at Draco's bed. He looked exactly how he had when I had left here hours earlier. "I know. Would it be okay if I slept here tonight? I'd feel better being close to him, just in case something does happen." I looked at the blonde longingly. "I just don't want him to be alone."

Madame Pomfrey bustled over to a vacant bed next to Draco's. "He's not going to know that you're here." She told me as I slid under the covers.

"I know, but it makes me feel better." She just rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath as she returned to her office. Before I fell asleep again, I rolled to face Draco. "Goodnight Draco."

(+)(+)(+)

The next morning I woke as Madame Pomfrey was checking in on Draco. "Will he be okay?" I asked.

"Mr. Potter, I suggest you stop asking me that before I am forced to ban you from the Hospital Wing." She said without turning around. "The moment I know something, so will you. Now, why don't you go down and get some breakfast?"

I knew a dismissal when I heard one so I slunk out of the Hospital Wing. Ron glared at me as I entered the Great Hall. Hermione glanced at me before turning a back to the book in front of her. Ginny looked away and as soon as I sat down, she stood up and left.

"It'll be okay Harry." A scarily calm voice said from next to me. I nearly got whiplash as I turned my head. Luna was sitting beside me on the bench. Her hair looked like it was tied back with chewed chewing gum, but I knew better than to ask. "Puffawums have invaded Ginny's body, but I'm going to put up traps this weekend while everyone's at Hogsmeade. After that she'll return to normal."

"Luna," I said carefully, "I don't think that's what happened to Ginny." She continued to stare at me happily with her wide, blue eyes. "You see, I've had to break things off with her because—"

"Oh yes," she interrupted, "the markslings told me about that. Congratulations." She brushed a strand of blonde hair away from her face. "Only so many are chosen to be Veela mates. It used to be considered quite an honor."

I nodded slowly. "Right, well I've got to go do some things before class starts." I stood up. "See you around Luna. And good luck with those pufferwhat traps."

"Puffawums." She corrected me as I walked away. Luna certainly was a strange girl, but oddly talking with her had made me feel slightly better. Not because anything she had said had reassured me, but because it was just nice to know that someone wasn't against the choice I had made.

After getting my book bag from Viola's room I wandered around the castle. Class didn't start for twenty minutes and as much as I wanted to go back to the Hospital Wing to make sure that Draco was okay, I was pretty sure Madame Pomfrey wouldn't be very happy with me if I did.

I turned the corner into yet another empty corridor and sighed. When no one else was around, the castle had a tendency to make you feel small and insignificant. I shut my eyes and took a few deep breaths. However, I was interrupted when I ran into somebody. My book bag fell from my shoulder and several books spilled out. "Sorry." I said as I crouched to gather my things together.

"No, it's my fault." The person I had run into helped me pick up a few pieces of parchment that had scattered across the corridor. I looked up and saw that it was Blaise Zabini. "I should have been watching where I was going." He said.

"It's okay." I told him. "I wasn't watching either."

The Slytherin chuckled. "Well maybe we should both keep our eyes open more often." He joked before continuing on his way.

As I did the same, I was shocked at the fact that I had just had a pleasant, albeit short, conversation with a Slytherin that didn't claim I was his mate.

(+)(+)(+)

"How is he?" I asked as I sat down next to Draco's bed.

"Stable." Madame Pomfrey said.

I ran my fingers across his hand. His skin was warm, but felt papery thin. "Is that good?"

When Madame Pomfrey didn't answer right away I began to worry. She sighed. "For right now it's good. The poison is being held at bay so it won't do any damage." The corners of my mouth turned up slightly. He would be okay. "However," she said and my smile fell, "there is currently nothing in his body that is healing the damage done by the poison and there's nothing killing the poison off." I pictured the poison as little men dressed all in purple and they were stuck in a deep pit of mud, annoyed, but not harmed in any way.

"What happens if Snape can't find the antidote?" I asked even though I was pretty sure that I did not want to hear the answer.

"Once the potion that Professor nape administered to him ceases to work, the poison will continue to spread through his body. Eventually, he will die." She said.

A loud crack and then a bang echoed in the Hospital Wing and I could have sworn it was the sound of my heart exploding into a thousand pieces until I turned around and saw Snape rushing towards Draco's bed. Behind him the door was swinging on one hinge.

"Did you find the antidote?" I asked as he poured half a vial of something down Draco's throat.

"We've been treating it wrong this whole time." He muttered before pouring the rest of the vile colored potion into Draco's mouth. "It's not poison."

I studied him carefully. Had he gone crazy? "What are you talking about? Do you see him right now?"

A strange growling noise came from Snape and I immediately shut my mouth. "This was not what somebody intended to happen." He said, his voice dangerously low.

"I know." I said impatiently. "Someone wanted me to drink it and end up right where Draco is now."

"No, Potter you incompetent child. You're just like your father." He snarled. "No one was trying to poison you. They were trying to make you fall in love. That pumpkin juice was laced with a love potion that is nearly impossible to detect."

A love potion? That made absolutely no sense. If it had been a love potion then why was Draco nearly dying?

Snape seemed to see my confusion. "Love potions are poisonous to unbounded Veela."

"So it was poison!"

His knuckles turned white where they gripped the empty potions vial. "It is not poison but it is poisoning his system and must be treated differently."

I looked down at Draco. His skin was starting to turn the color of old parchment and his breaths were shallow and quick. "So he'll be okay?"

"If I can identify which love potion was used, then most likely. Unfortunately, by the time I do so and get an antidote brewed, the damage done might be irreversible."

The two of us stood in silence until Madame Pomfrey came bustling in. "Neither of you are doing the patient any good by standing there. Shoo." She said as she forced us out of the Hospital Wing.

I walked down the empty corridor, my mind still blown by all I had just learned. A love potion had done that to my Draco. I mean…Draco. A love potion had done that to Draco, but it had been meant for me. My mind flew to Ginny. She had been so convinced that I had decided to go back to her. I broke into a run and didn't slow down until I reached Gryffindor Tower.

Before I could find Ginny, however, Ron found me. "How dare you." He hissed. His face was flushed an even brighter shade of red than I had ever seen before. "I thought you were scum the first time you broke my sister's heart, but now you've just taken it too far." He pulled his arm back and I barely had time to dodge before a fist came whizzing by my face. "You just hadn't sunk low enough yet so you had to write her a letter telling her that you still loved her and then later _deny everything to her face_." He aimed another punch at me and this time he came even closer to making contact. "I don't know how I ever called you my friend." This time he connected. His knuckles sunk into my cheek.

"Ron, that wasn't my fault." I said as I held a hand to my throbbing face. "I was—"

"What? Framed?" He snorted. "Was it You-Know-Who? Are you going to pin my sister's broken heart on him just like you did with Cedric's death."

That was a low blow. I pushed past Ron and went up to the boys' dormitory. It seemed like such a foreign place to me. I dug my Invisibility Cloak out of my trunk and draped it over me. At least one good thing had come out of this, now I was pretty sure that Ron had not been the one to drug the pumpkin juice.

**A/N: Does anyone think they know who put the love potion in the pumpkin juice? (That made me think of "you put the lime in the coconut and shake it all up" i'm not sure why...) Please review**


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: Yay! Another chapter! This one did take a while...I apologize. I think lots of you will be happy with the way it ends though. The chapter...not the story. Don't worry, the story is not even close to ending. Or maybe it is...who knows. Anyway! Happy reading :D**

**Harry's POV**

I was sitting in Transfiguration class trying to wrap my mind around the Living-To-Nonliving Theory when the classroom door opened and Madame Pomfrey stepped in. My heart began to beat erratically. She whispered something to Professor McGonagall. "Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall said, "Madame Pomfrey needs to see you in the Hospital Wing."

"Is Draco okay?" I asked as soon as the door shut behind us. Madame Pomfrey didn't answer as she began walking at a brisk pace. Her silence worried me.

We got to the Hospital Wing and I rushed over to Draco's bed. Sunlight streamed in through the windows across the room and fell on Draco at such an angle that his skin looked almost transparent. Professor Snape was standing on the other side of Draco's bed. "Is he dying?" I asked.

No one answered me. Madame Pomfrey was bustling around removing spells and Snape was just standing there glaring at me as if I had no right to be there breathing the same air as him. "Okay, I think he's ready." Madame Pomfrey said and stepped away from the bed. Snape drew a potion's vial from his thick robes. Inside a potion swirled silver and gold.

"Is that the antidote?" I asked. Again I was ignored as Snape poured the potion into Draco's mouth. I watched, waiting for Draco to open his eyes, waiting for him to be alright. Minutes passed. "Why isn't he waking up? Didn't it work?"

"Of course it worked you imbecile." Snape sneered, ignoring the withering look that Madame Pomfrey was giving him. "While the love potion ran through his system it did a lot of damage. Before he can wake up, that damage has to be healed."

I ignored the Potion's Master's snarkiness and stared down at the Veela. He seemed to be regaining a little bit of his natural color instead of the transparency that the love potion had seemed to give him. "So do you know who did this?"

Snape didn't answer me. I really didn't care all that much. I was almost sure that I knew the culprit anyway. I stood and walked out of the Hospital Wing, ignoring Snape's glare and Madame Pomfrey's worrying words.

(+)(+)(+)

By the end of the day, my anger had grown from slight frustration to boiling rage. I felt like the moment I got my hands on Ginny they'd be around her neck. In order to avoid this, after dinner I went to the room behind Viola's portrait to cool off some.

"What's got you all hot and bothered?" She asked.

"I don't want to talk about it." I said tersely.

She frowned, but didn't press the matter. "So where's your Veela? I haven't seen him around in quite a while." She said, changing the subject. I felt tears spring to my eyes. "Of course, I haven't seen you either."

"He's sick." I said, trying to hold back the tears. "Very sick."

Her frown deepened. "Then why are you not at his side?" She asked. "You are his mate. If you are there, he will heal faster."

I shook my head. "Not this time." I had done some reading on the effect that love potions had on unmated Veelas. It was hard to find information, but everything I could find said that if the antidote was not administered in six to twelve days, depending on the strength of the love potion, then the Veela would most likely die. Today was day five. Snape had cut it pretty close.

Viola didn't know what I was talking about. I made myself comfortable and told her about love potions and what happened when an unmated Veela drank one. She was appalled that something like that would be a popular invention. At the moment, so was I.

It was midnight when I left the room behind Viola's portrait. The empty corridors were dark. I wished that I had the Marauder's Map with me, but I didn't so I would have to make do. To avoid getting caught out after curfew I didn't light my wand. I sincerely regretted this when I ran into a corner. Silently cursing, I leaned against the wall and massaged my throbbing knee.

"Who's there?" A voice called from the darkness. I slowed my breathing and didn't move a muscle. "I know you're there." The voice said. It sounded closer than it had before. "I'm not going to hurt you." He was close enough now that I could see a faint silhouette. He was taller than me, but not by much. He stopped walking. I flattened myself against the wall as best I could. "Harry, is that you?"

I recognized the voice now. It was Blaise Zabini. "What are you doing out this late?" I asked.

He lit his wand. The sudden bright light made my eyes sting. "I'm just…" He looked around uncomfortably. "You see, I'm looking for…something." He mumbled.

"Something?" I asked and he nodded. "Okay then. Well, good luck on your search." I turned to leave, but Zabini grabbed my arm.

"I'm sorry." He said. "I'm not being entirely truthful with you."

I shrugged. "There's no reason for you to be. You're a Slytherin, I'm a Gryffindor. We're not exactly friends."

He frowned. "No, you deserve to know because you're Draco's mate and Draco's been my best friend since…well, forever." I waited for him to continue. He took a deep breath. "Well, you obviously know that Draco's a Veela." I nodded. "Well, so am I." Dark skin, black hair, brown eyes, I honestly didn't see it. He chuckled. "I'm a Dark Veela, Draco's just a normal Veela. Anyway, I know that my mate's here at Hogwarts, I just haven't been able to find her yet."

"And that's why you're walking around in the middle of the night?"

He laughed nervously. "I know, it's not the best way to go about it. I just figured that if I could find the area of the castle where her scent was the strongest, then I'd know where she spends a lot of time." He shrugged.

I patted his shoulder awkwardly. "Well, good luck."

(+)(+)(+)

Draco was still out the next morning when I went to visit him. "Are you sure he's going to be okay?" I asked Madame Pomfrey.

"He'll be fine." She said almost crossly. "Don't you have somewhere better to be?" I shook my head. "Isn't it a Hogsmeade weekend?" It was. "Go down to the village and have fun."

I looked down at Draco. He did look healthier than he had yesterday. "What if he—?"

"He won't." Madame Pomfrey cut me off. "Now shoo."

Reluctantly, I left the Hospital Wing. I really didn't want to go to Hogsmeade. Hermione, Ron, and Ginny would be there. They were the last people on earth that I wanted to face at the moment. Hermione disapproved of my actions, Ron was still furious with me, and Ginny was heartbroken…and guilty.

The air outside was cold. I stuck my hands deep into my pockets so that my fingers wouldn't be frozen by the time I reached Hogsmeade. There were small patches of grass polka dotting the snowy landscape that gave me hope that winter would soon be ending.

Icicles hung from the bare branches of the trees and sparkled in the sunlight. While I was looking up at one of the trees, I bumped into what felt like a stone wall. I rubbed my shoulder. "Sorry."

"We have to stop meeting like this." They said and I looked up to find myself looking into the dark eyes of Blaise Zabini. He laughed. "Are you on your way to Hogsmeade?" I nodded.

"What are you doing out here?" I asked.

He pointed up at the tree. "I've been trying to figure out what that is." I looked up and noticed something very pink hanging from one of the branches. Yellow feathers dangled from it and blue wire made almost a halo above it. "Do you know?"

I shook my head. "But I might know who made it."

His face lit up. "Really?"

"Yeah, do you want me to ask her what it is next time I see her?"

Blaise latched onto my arm, shaking his head enthusiastically. "Can you take me to meet her? Please?" His face held such emotion and hope that I couldn't say no.

"She's probably in Hogsmeade." I said. I was expecting to walk down to Hogsmeade as I usually did, but to my surprise, wings sprouted from Blaise's back. He wrapped his arms around me and lifted off the ground. Shocked, I gripped onto his sleeves as tightly as I could

"Does Draco have wings too?" I asked, trying not to look at the ground.

Blaise nodded, but didn't stray his eyes from the skies in front of us. His large black wings beat rhythmically in the cool winter air. Flying like this, in the arms of another person, was so different than flying on my Firebolt. The feeling of not being in control made my stomach churn and my heart seemed to want to get out of my chest.

When we finally landed in the outskirts of Hogsmeade, I was very glad to be standing on my own two feet. "Are you sure she's going to be here?" Blaise asked as he retracted his wings. I noticed that the back of his robes was now shredded.

I shrugged. "She might be. Why is this so important to you?"

Blaise looked like I had just asked him why the sky was blue. "She's my mate." He said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. He looked towards the village. "What's she like?"

I frowned and tried to think of how to describe Luna without making her sound crazy. "She's…got her own view of the world and she doesn't care about what people think of her."

"What's her name? What house is she in?"

"She's in Ravenclaw." I told the Slytherin. "Her name's Luna Lovegood."

"What does she look like?" He asked as we started walking.

"She's got long blonde hair and blue eyes." We passed the Hog's Head.

"Is she nice?"

I laughed. "Why don't you wait and see for yourself?"

We walked into the Three Broomsticks and I immediately noticed Hermione, Ron, and Ginny sitting together at one of the tables. I turned my back to them and looked around. Near the back, I spotted Luna talking to a sixth year Hufflepuff girl. "There she is." I told Blaise, pointing her out. Blaise grinned and pushed through the crowd to get to her.

I watched him introduce himself and had to admit that they made a pretty good looking pair. Since it felt awkward being there with Hermione, Ron, and Ginny just a few feet away, I left the Three Broomsticks and went to Honeydukes. I bought some Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans for myself and a few bars of chocolate for Draco.

As I was on my way out of Hogsmeade and back up to the castle, I ran into Ginny and Hermione. Ginny immediately ran away, her hands covering her face. I stared after her, angry with the fact that she was still so upset. At least she understood though, that it was not a decision that I had liked making. Ron, however, couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that I could not let Draco die because of me, no matter how cruel he had been to us in the past six years.

I looked back at Hermione and saw that she was watching me with calculating eyes. "Hello." I said hesitantly.

She raised an eyebrow. "You ruined everything. Did you know that? You were supposed to marry Ginny and then when I'd marry Ron we'd all be a family."

"I thought you guys were like my family anyway." I said, staring down at my feet. "But if this is how you act when I make a decision that you guys don't agree with then I'm not so sure anymore."

"Oh Harry," she said, "we are like your family, but if you'd just marry Ginny then we'd _really_ be family."

She was confusing me. "I don't get what the difference is Hermione. Why can't you understand that I can't stay with Ginny when I know that Draco will die because of it?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Why can't you understand that you've ruined all of my plans? Our children were going to be cousins." A crazed look came upon her face. "Why couldn't you just love Ginny?"

"I do love Ginny Hermione." I said, backing away a few steps for my own safety. "But as I said, I can't sit back and let Draco die. Besides," I added, shifting my gaze away from her, "I love Draco too." I had never admitted that, but it was true. Somewhere during the meals and the talks, I had fallen for the blonde Slytherin.

Hermione's frown deepened and the look on her face became downright frightening. Before she could do anything, however, Ron came out of Zonko's and wrapped his arm around her waist. "What are you doing here?" He asked angrily.

"Don't worry," I said, "I was just leaving." I pushed past them and nearly ran the entire way up to Hogwarts.

(+)(+)(+)

Madame Pomfrey smiled at me as I entered the Hospital Wing. "He just woke up."

**A/N: Yay! Draco's awake! Maybe I should just end the fic here...haha just kidding, i won't. That'd be mean.**


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: Yay! Here's another update! and a longer one at that! This chapter was not originally gonna be this long but I just couldn't end it where I had planned to when I got there...so I suppose that's good for you! There's gonna be a semi-important message in the end A/N so...yeah...Enjoy!**

**Draco's POV**

"How are you feeling?" A voice asked. I looked around but the lights were too bright for me to make anything out. I blinked slowly a few times. My head felt like it was splitting in two. "He just woke up." The same voice said again, but this time it was farther away.

I closed my eyes and waited a few seconds before opening them. Bright green orbs were hovering over me when I opened them. "Draco, I'm so glad you're awake. I've been so worried about you." I recognized that voice, but everytime I tried to match it to a person the pain in my head worsened.

The bright lights all around the green orbs began to fade and I was able to make out a face, Harry's face. I was glad that the first face I saw was his. It made me feel slightly better. "How are you feeling?"

My lips cracked painfully when I opened them to answer my mate. "As long as you're here with me I couldn't be better."

Harry smiled tearfully. "I was so scared that you were going to die."

Worry fluttered through my chest. Had he really been scared for my life? If I had died he would have been free to go back to Ginny. His life would have returned to normal, exactly as it had been before I had told him that he was my mate.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked when my smile faded. "Does something hurt?"

I shut my eyes slowly. "My head." I mumbled.

He called Madame Pomfrey over. "It's natural that he's going to be in pain." She said. "He's still not fully recovered. I can give him a Pain Relief Potion, but it probably won't do much." She poured the potion into my mouth. It burned my throat as I swallowed.

Madame Pomfrey left to check on the other patients. Harry came back into view. "I bought you some chocolate at Honeydukes." He held up a large chocolate bar before placing it on the bedside table. "Madame Pomfrey made me go to Hogsmeade earlier. She was getting tired of me hanging around here almost all day every day." He laughed awkwardly, and then cleared his throat. "I actually met up with Blaise on the way there and spent a little time with him. I expect he'll have some exciting news to tell you the next time you see him."

I listened to him talk, but didn't really register much of what he told me about Blaise. He had been visiting me every day, so much that Madame Pomfrey had to kick him out this afternoon. Did that mean he really had been worried about me? Or had he just been coming here out of obligation?

Harry stopped talking. "Draco, are you okay?"

I nodded slowly. Harry grinned. "Well, you must be tired." He stood from his chair next to my bed. "Feel better soon." For a moment he hesitated, looking conflicted. With one last smile, he turned and left.

Madame Pomfrey came over with a vial of Dreamless Sleep. She poured it into my mouth. It tasted foul, but I had no choice but to swallow. My eyelids grew heavy and the last thing that I thought about before I fell asleep was how much I loved seeing Harry smile.

I don't know how much time had passed since I had fallen asleep. It could have been days. Sunlight streamed in through the windows, but didn't hurt my eyes as much as it had when I had first woken.

"I see you're finally up." Madame Pomfrey said. "How are you feeling?"

"Better." My voice was rough from disuse. "How long was I sleeping?"

She poured a vibrantly colored potion into my mouth. "About a day and a half." She smiled. "You've caused young Mr. Potter a great deal of stress. He thought you were never going to wake up again."

"He came to visit me?"

"He rarely left. It only took him an hour or two to come back after you fell asleep. He did his homework here, ate his meals. I finally had to kick him out a few hours ago so that he'd go to class." She gave me another potion. "He cares about you a lot, you know." I nodded, but I wasn't convinced.

The door flew open and Harry rushed in. He looked at me and his face lit up. "You're awake!" He seemed out of breath. "I came as soon as I got out of Defense Against the Dark Arts." His green eyes sparkled. "How are you feeling? I was so worried."

"Better." I croaked. I cleared my throat. "Were you really worried?"

He frowned slightly. "Of course I was." There was a long pause. His mouth worked soundlessly. "I l-lo…you're my mate." He finally said.

A warm feeling spread from my chest and reached all the way to my fingers and toes. Harry hadn't quite said that he loved me, but he had come close enough. My back began to tingle. I sat up just in time for my wings to explode from my back.

Harry gasped. He stretched his fingers out towards the silver feathers, but they stopped short and drew back quickly. "They're beautiful." He whispered.

Suddenly, his eyes widened. He brought his hand to the base of my wings and ran his fingers softly against my skin. When he brought it back in front of me, I saw that it was red with blood. "Is that going to happen every time?" He asked.

"I don't think so." I said. "I think it just happened now because it's the first time I'm presenting them to you."

We sat in silence. Harry cleaned the blood from my back with gentle touches. When he finished, he banished the blood covered towel and brushed his fingers over one of my wings. The sensation was indescribable.

"I think you should go now." I said quietly. The feelings that Harry was giving me were too much to handle and I didn't want to do anything until he was ready.

Harry nodded solemnly. I watched him walk across the room. "I love you." I said as he opened the door.

He turned around and gave me a small smile. "I know." He paused. "I…me too."

A trill pulled free from my chest. Harry chuckled and left. I relaxed my muscles and felt my wings retract.

(+)(+)(+)

Three days later, I was released from the Hospital Wing on the grounds that I wouldn't overexert myself. Harry was glad to have meals with me in the Astronomy Tower again. He said that eating with the Gryffindors for the past few weeks was like being a Death Eater in the middle of an Order meeting.

He was very careful about the food that he brought now. Instead of grabbing it from the Great Hall, he got it directly from the kitchens. I told him that he was being paranoid, but he refused to listen.

One morning, he showed up late with no food. He apologized. Apparently, Weasley and the other Gryffindor seventh years in his dorm had shut off his alarm and snuck out of the room early that morning. I felt a pang of guilt. They were only treating him this way because he had chosen me over Ginny.

"Would you like to stay with me tonight?" I asked on a whim. Crabbe and Goyle went along with anything I did, Theo wouldn't care, and Harry and Blaise had formed almost a friendship while I was in the Hospital Wing.

Harry looked at me hopefully. "Do you think that'd be smart? I mean, I've never been popular with the Slytherins."

I shrugged. "Well you've never been in a relationship with me before."

His face turned serious and his gaze dropped to the floor. "Is that what we are?" He asked softly. "In a relationship?"

"I'd like to think so." I said seriously. "I love you so much, and I've been led to believe that you feel the same way towards me."

He nodded. "I do, really I do. It's just that…I don't know." He sat down next to me and I wrapped my arm around his waist. His head fell to rest on my shoulder. "I know that I would like to be in a relationship with you, but…can we take it slow?" I nodded, but wondered how slow he was talking. We only had a few months left to bond and I was starting to grow nervous.

My stomach growled and Harry laughed. "I'll get the food now." He started to stand, but I gripped his waist tightly. I was comfortable like this and did not want him to get up. "How am I supposed to get us breakfast when you won't let me leave?" He asked.

"I don't know. Figure something out, you're smart." I said as I nuzzled into his warm neck.

He sighed. "Dobby!" I looked up suddenly at the name. A crack sounded and suddenly my old house elf was standing in the middle of the Astronomy Tower.

"Young M-Master D-Draco!" Dobby stammered when he saw me. His hands twisted at the bottom of the towel he was wearing. "What a surprise to be seeing you again." The house elf looked from me to Harry and back again. "What is you doing with Harry Potter here?" He asked, his already squeaky voice rising even higher. "I hope you is not causing trouble. Harry Potter is having enough worries right now."

Harry laughed quietly. "Don't worry Dobby. He's not causing trouble."

Dobby looked confused and I didn't blame him. I had been horrible to him while he had been in my father's employment. "But…but…Young Master Draco is a…a…" Dobby took hold of his ears and pulled them down. His eyes widened and his tiny body began to shake. "A bad person!" The house elf took a running start at the wall.

Harry pulled away from me and caught Dobby by the back of his towel. "Dobby, you're no longer in their service." He said. "You can say anything you want about Draco and he's not going to do anything." He shot me a look that said 'you better agree with everything I'm saying'. "Right Draco." I nodded.

The house elf eyed me nervously before turning his attention back to my mate. "So what can I be doing for Harry Potter?"

"We need breakfast. Do you think you could bring us some food from the kitchens?"

Dobby brightened. "Of course. Anything for Harry Potter." He disappeared with a loud crack.

Harry sat back down next to me. "Does he always call you by your full name?" I asked. He nodded. "Why?"

"It's a hero worship thing. He thinks I'm the best person in the world." He sighed.

I smiled. "Well that makes two people." A blush crept across Harry's cheeks.

(+)(+)(+)

After breakfast, I didn't get to talk to Harry again until dinner. He entered the Astronomy Tower with red rimmed eyes. Without saying a word, he collapsed into my arms, shoulders shaking. I ran my fingers through his hair. When he calmed down, I pulled away gently and wiped away his tears. "What's the matter?" I asked softly.

He shook his head and buried his face in my shoulder. I held him for a while longer. "I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong." I said.

Harry pulled away and wiped his face with the sleeve of his robes. "I just had a bad day." He said.

"What happened to make it a bad day?" I asked.

My mate was silent for a while. Another tear ran down his cheek. I brushed it away. "Things." He said quietly.

I sighed. Harry was not making this easy. I hated seeing him like this. "What kind of things?"

He wormed his way back into my arms. I shook my head, but couldn't stop a small smile from gracing my lips. I could feel a damp spot growing on the front of my robes. Harry's shoulders began shaking again. "Please talk to me Harry. It hurts me to see you this way." Harry shook his head and I sighed. "I brought food from the kitchens. Are you hungry?" He peeked his head around my eyes and looked at the plates of steaming food before nodding.

I slid down the wall and Harry sat down so close to me that he was practically in my lap. I handed him a plate of food. He stared at it, still more tears running down his face. I brushed them away. "I wish you'd talk to me."

"It's nothing." Harry mumbled as he pushed the food around with his fork. He rested his head on my shoulder and I carded my fingers through his hair.

"It doesn't seem like nothing." I said.

He dropped his fork and sighed. I pulled him gently into my lap. He curled up into a ball, his head tucked under my chin. "It's just Ron." He finally said. I frowned angrily. "He's just upset that I hurt his sister. I don't blame him."

I did, but I didn't want to upset Harry further so I kept my mouth shut.

"Was he the reason you had a bad day?" I asked just to clarify. Harry nodded. "What did he do?"

"He told me that I had become a traitor to Gryffindor and said that if I loved my snakes so much that I should just become one of them."

That had a nice ring to it, being _his_ snake. "He doesn't sound like much of a friend." I said.

Harry shook his head frantically. "No, it's not like that at all. He's my best friend and he always will be. At least, I hope he always will be. He was my first friend here at Hogwarts and I don't want to lose him." His voice was thick with tears.

I pulled him closer to me. His face pressed into my neck and I could feel his hot tears on my skin. His arms wrapped around me tightly. "I'm sorry that you have to go through all of this because of me." I whispered and pressed a soft kiss to his shoulder.

He pulled his face from my neck and looked me in the eye. Tears stained his cheeks. I leaned in and gently kissed them all away. His eyelashes brushed my forehead as his eyes fluttered closed. I forced myself to pull away before I got carried away.

Harry leaned in closer and pressed his forehead against mine. My breaths became shallow and it was taking all I had not to lean in and snog him senseless right there. He had just told me this morning that he wanted to take it slow. If I did that, I'd just be taking advantage of his emotional state.

I turned my face away to lessen the temptation. Harry began nuzzling into my neck. His face was still damp from the tears. I wanted to kiss him so badly. "Harry," My voice sounded strangled, "Harry, I don't think that this is a very good idea. You just said that you wanted to take things slow."

"Well I changed my mind." He said as he pressed his lips against my jawbone. His lips travelled up to my earlobe. He nipped at it lightly. "I love you, Draco." He said, and that was the last straw. I turned my head and captured his lips with mine. Harry engaged enthusiastically in the kiss.

A few minutes passed before I pulled away, panting. "We should stop." I said. "I don't want to take advantage of you."

"Then let me take advantage of you." Harry whined, trying to capture my lips. I turned my head and his lips caught my neck. He began pressing hot kisses against my skin. I moaned. His lips felt so good. Somewhere in the midst of our kiss, he had turned so that he was straddling me. He pressed up closer and nipped at my pulse point. "I want this Draco. I want you."

I pushed him away half heartedly. "Harry, not yet."

"Why not?" He pouted. "Don't you want me?"

"Of course I do Harry, more than anything else in the whole world."

"Then kiss me." He nipped at my earlobe.

"Harry—" The rest of my sentence was swallowed up in Harry's mouth. His tongue brushed across my bottom lip. I sighed and pushed him away as gently as I could. "Harry, you're not thinking this through." I said. "You should get some sleep and then if you still feel the same way tomorrow, then we'll talk about it. Okay?"

He frowned, but nodded. "Is that offer to sleep in your dorm tonight still up for grabs?" He asked.

I shook my head slowly. "I'm sorry Harry. I just don't think that it'd be a very good idea to sleep in the same room while you're in such an…emotional state." Harry frowned. "We'll get you a bed in the Room of Requirement so that you don't have to sleep in Gryffindor Tower." Harry climbed off of my lap and stood up.

When we reached the Room of Requirement I paced in front of the blank stretch of wall three times while Harry leaned against the wall, pouting. The door appeared. The room beyond it was furnished with a large bed and four lamps, one in each corner. Harry took my hand in his and led me over to the bed. "Harry," I started, but Harry pressed his lips to mine before I could say anything else. He pushed me back until the backs of my knees hit the edge of the bed. I fell back onto the silk covers and Harry climbed onto my lap. His hands tangled themselves in my hair.

"Harry…this isn't…a good…idea." I said between kisses.

Harry pulled away, a hurt expression on his face. "Why don't you want to?" He asked. "Ginny always wanted to."

Pain exploded through my chest. "Oh, I see. Well if that's how you want it then maybe you should just go back to her." I stood up sharply and Harry fell to the floor.

"No, Draco!"

I slammed the door behind me and tears blurred my vision as I ran to the Slytherin Common Room.

**A/N: I was looking at Soul Mate on the little 'My Stories' tab thingy, and I decided that I really need a new summary, so if someone could help me with that it'd be much appreciated, i really suck at summaries...whoever's summary I end up using will get to suggest a scene for the next chapter :) thanks for reading :)**


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: There's been a bit of a wait, hasn't there? I'm sorry. This chapter has been insanely difficult. I had nearly half of it written from Draco's POV and then suddenly I decided that I wanted Harry to tell this chapter, so I had to start over. So here it is :D enjoy! Oh shoot...I was supposed to pick a reviewer's summary to use and announce them winner and let them tell me something that they wanted to happen in the next chapter. Hold on  
Winner: WannaBeBella13 :) In a review, tell me one thing that you want to have happen in the next chapter and I'll try to make it happen :)  
Thank you to all of you who gave me a summary in your review, unfortunately some of them were far too long, but they were all appreciated**

**Harry's POV**

I watched the door slam shut behind Draco. That had not been what I had meant to say. Ginny and I had never…been sexually active. She had always been willing and had made advances several times, but I had always told her that I had wanted to wait until we were married. With current situations, I didn't think that waiting until marriage was an option anymore.

The empty room mocked me and tore at my heart. Draco had rejected me. Now I knew how he felt before. I stood up and straightened my robes. I had to go find Draco and apologize.

I left the Room of Requirement. My Marauder's Map was in my trunk in my dormitory and I didn't want to go up there to get it. Draco had probably gone to the Slytherin Common Room anyway, so I wouldn't need it.

The portrait of Salazar Slytherin glared at me as I stood in front of it. I had no idea what the password was so I was forced to stand there awkwardly after knocking quickly on the frame.

After several long minutes, the portrait swung open. "Harry, what are you doing here?" Blaise asked.

I tried to look around him and into the Common Room, but I couldn't see anything. "Is Draco here?" I asked.

"I need to talk to him."

Blaise shook his head. "I haven't seen him since before dinner. I assumed he was with you."

"He was." I paused and looked around, hoping to see Draco coming down the dungeon corridor. "But we…parted ways after…an unfortunate incident…" My words were cut off by a strangled sob. "And now he hates me."

"Why would he hate you?" Blaise asked, looking confused. "You're his mate. It's impossible for him to hate you."

I wiped fresh tears from my eyes and tried to compose myself. "I was upset and I said some things but they came out wrong and then he just left."

Blaise looked a little uneasy. He put an arm around my shoulders. "I'm sure he doesn't hate you." He said as he led me into the Common Room. "He probably just needs some time to cool off." I sat down on the couch next to Blaise. He rubbed my back awkwardly as I wept. "It'll be okay." The Dark Veela said. Eventually my eyes drooped closed and I fell asleep.

When I woke up, I was still on the Slytherin Common Room couch. The lighting hadn't changed at all since the night before since there were no windows. It was no wonder Draco was so pale. I curled into a ball. Thinking about Draco sent a jolt of pain through my chest.

I wondered what time it was. It was Saturday and there were no classes, so time didn't matter. Had Draco come back yet? I stood shakily and looked around the Common Room. I was alone. There were two hallways, one branching out to my left and the other to my right.

As I was trying to figure out which one led to the boys' dormitory, Blaise appeared in the one to my left. "Is he back?" I asked as he approached me.

Blaise shook his head. "His bed doesn't look like it had been slept in at all." He told me. "But I think I know where he is."

I followed Blaise out of the Slytherin Common Room and up to the Entrance Hall. "Where are we going?" I asked as he pushed open the double doors.

"Hogsmeade."

I stopped. Blaise continued on for a few more steps before realizing that I was no longer following him. "I thought you wanted to talk to him." He said.

"I do." I told him quickly. "But I know a much faster way to get to Hogsmeade. Follow me." He followed me to the statue of the one-eyed witch. "Dissendium." I said as I tapped the statue with my wand. The old witch's hump opened, revealing the tunnel's entrance.

The owner of Honeydukes, who was quite used to me suddenly appearing in the basement of the shop now, waved to me and Blaise and I rushed out of the sweets shop. Since it was not a Hogsmeade weekend for Hogwarts students the streets weren't very busy. Blaise led me to the Three Broomsticks, but before we entered the pub he turned to me. "You should probably wait out here." He said. "Once I've talked to Draco and made sure that he's calmed down I'll send him out here to talk to you."

I nodded and sat down on one of the benches in front of the pub window. Hours seemed to pass as I waited. I grabbed some snow. It melted slightly in my hand. I molded it into a snowball. I made two more snowballs and combined them into a heart. For a while I held it in my quickly numbing hands. I wondered what Blaise and Draco were talking about as I threw the heart on the ground and crushed it with my foot.

It seemed like time slowed down as I watched people enter and exit the shop across the road. I heard the door to the Three Broomsticks opened and looked up hopefully, but the only person that exited the pub was a large man wearing a greasy apron. He smiled at me as he passed by and entered that alley.

"You're the chap that Leopold's been going on about, aren't you?" He asked jovially. Leopold? Who was Leopold? The large man noticed my confusion. "Leopold, you know, pale, blonde hair, icy blue-grey eyes, a Veela?" Why was he referring to Draco as Leopold? I nodded and the guy grinned. "Would you like me to send him out?"

"No thank you." I mumbled. He nodded and went into the pub.

Finally, Draco came out and sat down next to me. He didn't say anything, just put his head in his hands and sighed. "I'm sorry." I whispered as tears prickled at my eyes. Draco stayed silent. I wanted him to hold me, to feel his strong arms around me and have him tell me that everything was okay. "I didn't mean to say that Draco."

"But you did." He said without looking at me. "And you have no idea how much it hut to hear that."

I blinked back tears. "It's not what it sounded like though." I kicked at a drift of snow at my feet. "Ginny and I never…we never…" I groped for words, but fell short. Draco looked up, but not at me. He shook his head silently. Tears streamed down my face and my breath hitched in my throat. "Please don't hate me." I whispered.

Draco sighed. "I don't hate you Harry." He said finally. "Is that really what you think?" I nodded, wiping my eyes. "Why?"

"You rejected me and you've been avoiding me ever since." I ran my sleeve over my face, cleaning it of tears. "What else am I supposed to think?"

"I didn't reject you, I just didn't want to take advantage of you." Draco said. "And I needed time today to cool off. I don't think you know just how much power you hold over me. With the right words, you could kill me."

I couldn't say anything after that. We sat in silence until the large man came out of the pub again. "Leopold." He barked. "Madame Rosmerta says that if you want to earn today's pay then you need to actually work." He disappeared inside again. Draco stood up.

"Why does he call you Leopold?" I couldn't stop myself from asking.

Draco laughed and it was good to see a smile on his face. "That's just how Chuck is." He shrugged.

(+)(+)(+)

"I wasn't sure you were going to come." I said as Draco entered the Astronomy Tower.

He sat down a good distance away. "I wasn't sure I was going to either." His face was grim and it looked as if he hadn't gotten any sleep the night before. "You know, I really want to forgive you. Really, I do, but it still hurts to think that you compared me to Ginny."

I brought my knees up and hugged them to my chest. I wished that I could take back what I had said, erase the words from the air.

The silence became overwhelming. I wanted to say something to break the tension, but I didn't know what to say. Draco wouldn't look at me. His eyes traveled around the room. It came time to go to class and still the silence held. Draco stood up and left the tower. After a few minutes, I followed suit.

Draco didn't come up to the Astronomy Tower for dinner that night. I ate alone. When I was finished eating, I wandered through the castle, hoping to run into Draco. Instead, I ran into Snape. "Wandering about this close to curfew is not a smart idea, Mister Potter." He sneered.

I shrugged. "Have you found out who made that potion yet?" I asked, a little shocked at my own bravery.

Snape's sneer deepened. "Probably someone who lives far away and sells their potions to Dark Magic shops all over the country."

"What do you mean?"

The Potion Master's gaze made me shrink back a little. "I mean that this potion is considered Dark and is far too complicated for anyone here at Hogwarts to have made." My mind flew to Hermione. "Not even Miss Granger could have brewed this potion." I frowned.

"So how do we find out who slipped it into the drink?"

"It's curfew Mister Potter. I suggest you get back to your dorm before I am forced to give you a detention." He turned on his heel and stalked towards the dungeons, his robes billowing out behind him.

(+)(+)(+)

It was a long week with very little contact with Draco. The weekend arrived. It was a Hogsmeade weekend. I woke early and left Gryffindor Tower before anyone else was up.

Most of the snow had melted since last weekend, and what was left was slushy and wet. I carefully stepped over a muddy puddle. By the time I reached the village, my shoes were splattered with mud. I stepped into a nearby snow bank, trying to clean them off, but instantly regretted it as I felt the snow climb into my shoes and seep into my socks.

Teeth chattering, I entered the Three Broomsticks. Draco looked up as the bell above the door rang. An unidentifiable emotion crossed his face and he disappeared behind the counter. I sat down at a table and Madame Rosmerta came over. "What can I get for you, sweetheart?" She asked.

I smiled at her. "Well, I'm looking for someone tall, preferably blond with grey-blue eyes and pale skin. He'll likely be a Veela with the most beautiful wings I've ever seen. He'll be stubborn and able hold a grudge against someone until the dragons come home." I leaned back in my chair. "Aside from all of that, the only thing that can rival his love for me, is my love for him."

Madame Rosmerta smiled. "I'll see what I can do." And with a wink, she clicked away in her shimmering red heels.

Draco appeared, looking grumpy. He sat down across from me and crossed his arms. "Do you need something?" He asked.

I frowned. "That's not much of a greeting."

He rolled his eyes. I stood up, and, before he could escape, plopped myself down in his lap. "What are you doing?" He asked, trying to remove me from his person. I wrapped my arms around his neck. "Harry, I'm not in the mood for joking around right now."

I made myself comfortable. "Honestly, Draco, I don't care right now. I've barely seen you this week and we haven't talked since Monday morning at breakfast, and that barely counts." I brushed some of his hair away from his face as soon as he stopped trying to push me off of his lap. "I miss you so much and even though you keep saying that you don't hate me, it really feels like you do." I nuzzled into his neck, placing light kisses on his pale skin.

"Harry," Draco protested weakly, "Harry, please stop."

I pulled my head up and looked him in the eye. "Do you really want me to?" Moments passed by in silence. I tilted Draco's head up and captured his lips with my own.

**A/N: Thank you all for reading! Love and Cookies for you all!**


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N: So I started writing this chapter, and then I decided to change one small detail about this one single part of a scene, and it totally threw the rest of the chapter off so I had to start over. Then I got sick and missed two days of school and as a side effect had major writer's block. Then I went back to school and discovered that while I'm there, supposed to be paying attention in class, the writer's block goes away and I can write about 800 words in two class periods. Life can be cruel that way. So I hope you forgive me for not getting this chapter up faster and I hope you like it :D**

**Draco's POV**

Harry's lips were warm and soft against my own. I wanted to be angry with him still, to let him know how much he had hurt me, but with Harry kissing me like this my anger didn't stand a chance. My hands found their way to his hips. I felt him smile against my lips.

I pulled away. Harry was grinning. "You're gonna be the death of me." I told him.

He laughed. "But you love me anyway."

"Of course I do." I said, pulling him down for another kiss.

"You can have the rest of the day off." Madame Rosmerta said from behind the counter when Harry and I broke apart again.

I removed my apron and handed it to her. "Thanks."

She smiled knowingly. "I expect you to work tomorrow though."

Harry grabbed my hand and led me excitedly out of the pub. "Where are you taking me?" I asked.

"I skipped breakfast to come here." He said, slowing slightly so that we were walking side by side. "I'm hungry."

I laughed softly. "We were just at a pub. Why didn't you get something to eat there?"

My mate shrugged. "You work there." He said. "I figured you could use some time away."

We turned up the path that led to Hogwarts, but as we neared the castle Harry turned and started walking across the grass towards the lake. He transfigured a large branch into a blanket and spread it out on the ground. He sat down and motioned for me to sit down next to him. As I did, he called for Dobby and asked him to bring us some food. While we were waiting, I turned to him, conflicted. I was glad that I was no longer avoiding him, but there was so much that we had to talk about and I didn't know where to start.

The food came. Harry started eating. I accepted the croissant that was offered to me, but couldn't force myself to eat it. "Harry…" I said, but trailed off when he looked at me with his large eyes.

"I know." He said as he set his plate of food down on the blanket and turned to me.

I dropped the croissant and took hold of Harry's hand instead. His fingers wrapped around mine hesitantly. He wouldn't look me straight in the eyes. "Harry," I said gently, "I'm not mad at you."

"You were though." He mumbled.

I nodded. "I was." I agreed. "But now I'm not."

Harry frowned. "Then why do we have to talk about it? It's in the past, over with." He pulled his hand from mine and crossed his arms over his chest.

"It may be over with," I said, "but it happened and I need to understand why you said what you did."

Suddenly, Harry stood up. "Well I don't want to talk about it." He huffed, turning his back on me. He looked like he had a halo as his head moved in front of the late morning sun.

"Harry," I said quietly, "please sit down." He turned and looked at me for a few moments before hesitantly returning to the spot beside me that he had just vacated. He leaned into me as I wrapped my arm around his waist. "Why don't you want to talk about it?"

"I just don't." He said. His voice held a little less of an edge now. His untidy, black hair tickled at my cheek and neck.

I pressed my lips to the top of his head. "I'm sorry, but I need to." He pulled away and started to protest, but I held a finger to his lips and his words halted. "I've forgiven you and I'm not mad at you anymore, but if we don't talk about this, it could all happen again and I don't think that I'd be able to survive that."

Harry was silent for a long time. He rested his head on my shoulder once again and I ran my fingers through his soft hair. The sun warmed my skin and felt good compared to the breeze that danced across the blanket. Harry's fingers traced symbols across the back of my hand. He sighed. "So…are we gonna talk?" He asked suddenly.

It shocked me how easily I had lost myself to his touch. I pulled away slightly. "You said that you and Ginny were never sexually active?" I hoped that I had understood his frantic babblings well enough to make the correct assumption. Harry nodded. I felt fear unwind itself from around my heart. "Why not?" I asked. "If she was so willing."

Harry edged a little closer to me and I intertwined my hand with his. The small touch seemed to comfort him. "I always wanted to wait until marriage."

"What changed?"

He looked up at me with tired eyes. "Everything." I waited for him to elaborate. "I had to break it off with the girl I thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with." His eyes widened. "Not that I regret it. I would never change the fact that I'm with you." I smiled softly, but a small part of me still held a little doubt. "It's just that it all happened so fast. One minute we were enemies, the next, we're mates."

I carded my fingers through his hair. "I agreed to take it slow."

"I know you did." Harry said, his eyes closed as I continued to run my fingers through his hair. "But with everything that has happened, how slow can we afford to go?"

My heart fluttered in my chest. He could afford to go as slow as he wanted, yet he had said _we_. I felt a smile spread across my face. It didn't last very long though, as I realized that he was right. School ended in two months and then my birthday was only two weeks after that. I swore to myself that Harry and I would be married before we Bonded.

(+)(+)(+)

Blaise was grinning when I entered the Slytherin Common Room. "What are you so happy about?" I asked.

"Luna." He said, "She's the most wonderful girl I've ever met." He sighed happily, staring off into the distance. "She's perfect."

I laughed. Blaise's face flushed slightly. I couldn't say that I wasn't glad that Blaise had found his mate without lying. Ever since he and Luna had gotten together, his terrible scent had somewhat become less terrible. I still had to put an Air Freshening Charm on the air around my bed before I went to sleep though.

Blaise looked at me. "I'm glad you and Harry are back together." He said.

"How did you know?"

"Luna saw the two of you having a picnic by the lake." He said as he stood up. "I'd love to stay here and talk, but I promised Luna I'd help her put up Heffalump traps."

The Common Room was empty. I stared into the crackling fire, lost in thought. Suddenly, the flames turned green and my father's face appeared. "Draco." He greeted.

Why was he contacting me? He had disowned me for accepting Harry as my mate. I began to worry that something had happened to Mother. "Father." I said, returning the formality.

"I am very sorry about Potter." He said stiffly.

His words shocked and confused me. Was he telling me that he had changed his mind? Or had something happened to Harry? Something couldn't have happened to Harry, I had just been with him half an hour ago. "What do you mean, Father?" I asked.

"I have been informed that he has left you for the female Weasley." Father said. "I told you that being his mate would simply not work. I accept your apology for not listening to your elders."

I saw red. What gave my father the right to tell me how to live my life? What gave him the right to tell me to deny myself my mate when he too has felt the pull of the Veela to its mate? "You have been informed wrongly, Father." I said through clenched teeth. "Harry and I are still together."

Father's expression did not change, but, after 17 years of living with the ma, I could tell that he was angry. His face disappeared and the flames turned orange and yellow again.

Anger boiled through my veins. I couldn't sit still any longer, so I left the Common Room and paced through the castle. I ran into Harry near the library.

"What's wrong?" He asked, helping me catch my balance.

I shook my head, unable to form words in my rage. Harry took my hand and led me through the halls until we reached the Room of Requirement. His fingers interlaced with mine. As soon as the door closed behind us, Harry wrapped his arms around me and I buried my face into his neck and shoulder, crying.

Harry held me until I calmed down. His fingers brushed through my hair and then came to rest on my shoulders. He pulled away and wiped the tears from my face. "What happened?" He asked again. "Tell me so that I can help you."

It took me a moment or two to find my voice, and after I did, I had no idea how to start. Harry waited patiently, his fingers playing with my own. "My father contacted me." I said slowly. "He thought that you had left me." Tears welled up in my eyes again. I blinked them away quickly.

"I'll never leave you." Harry said softly as he wiped away more tears. He pressed his lips to my cheek and brushed my hair away from my face. "Do you think that it has anything to do with the love potion?" Harry asked.

I hadn't thought about that. If the two events were connected, then why would Father have waited so long to contact me about it? If Harry had been the one to drink the potion and had left me, I would be dead by now. "It makes no sense." I murmured.

Harry wiped another tear from my cheek. I hadn't realized that one had fallen. "I'm sorry." He whispered into my hair as he pulled me into an embrace again.

I took a few deep breaths and then pulled gently away so that I could look into Harry's eyes. The roles now were switched and I could understand how Harry had felt. I had this strong need to be close with him, to be touching him.

Harry seemed to understand and pressed his lips to mine. This kiss was not the same as the one we had shared in the Astronomy when Harry had been upset. Instead of frantic and fast, this one was slow and calming. When he pulled away, I brought my hand up to his face and traced his jaw line. "I love you." I whispered.

A smile lit up Harry's face. "I love you too."

(+)(+)(+)

I didn't get off of work the next evening until the sun had set below the horizon and crickets were chirping. After Madame Rosmerta paid me, I went straight to the nearest jeweler. Before I had gone to the Three Broomsticks, I had put all of the money I had into my small drawstring pouch. With that clinking in my pocket, I looked through all the rings in the display case.

Most of them I instantly vetoed because they were far too dainty or feminine. Harry may be the submissive in the relationship, but he was still strong and powerful and deserved to have a ring that represented that. The last ring in the display case caught my eye. It was a thicker gold band with five small emeralds set directly into it. "I'll take that one." I told the shopkeeper.

"Very well." He said and removed the ring from the case. "That will be one thousand Galleons and seven Sickles."

I almost had to empty my drawstring pouch to pay for the ring, but it was worth it. Instead of going straight back to the castle, I stopped in the Three Broomsticks to show Madame Rosmerta and Chuck the ring. They both loved it and assured me that Harry would love it as well. I hoped they were right as I walked up the dirt path towards the school.

The next morning at breakfast I paced around the Astronomy Tower. I had gotten breakfast from the kitchens and the ring was heavy in my pocket. What was taking Harry so long? I bit nervously at my bottom lip. Finally, Harry showed up. "Sorry I'm a little late," he said, "I had to talk to Dobby about something." He pressed his soft lips to mine and I my anxiety melted away.

"Apology accepted." I said happily.

Harry looked down at the tray of breakfast and I took that moment of distraction to get down on one knee. "What's this?" He asked and turned to look at me.

**A/N: GASP! Just wait, even though I know exactly what's going to happen in the next chapter, it's not gonna want to transfer onto a word document.**

**Sidenote: I'm planning on starting a new Harry Potter FF as soon as I'm finished with this one...i was going somewhere with this, and now I dont' remember why i was bringing that up...darn  
well, now you all know that i'll be writing another HarryDraco FF after this one...and it'll be really really really really really long...and hopefully good and with a plot line that's not as cliche as this one :) **


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: I know this chapter has been a long time coming...and I'm sorry. At first I hadn't posted it because I couldn't figure out how to end the chapter, and then I was in the middle of writing the ending (which sucked, btw) and I had to write, like, five papers for school and so I didnt' have time. Eventually I kinda just forgot about the chapter and I stopped going on my computer as much because I was busy hanging out with my friends and enjoying my last few months of my senior year because after this summer, who knows how much of my life will change and what friends i'll still be in contact with. And then Spring Break came and I spent a lot of my time reading and other stuff. But now I'm on my computer because I have to write a paper for school and I figured I should post this, especially since I saw people were still wanting to read more of it. So I opened the document and, lo and behold, i was still in the middle of the sucky ending. So i just deleted what I had written for the ending and decided to end it at a different place, so it's not quite as long as I'd like it to be, but at least I"m posting. I'm so sorry for the long wait. Enjoy :)**

**Harry's POV**

I wasn't sure what I was going to do with myself for most of the day since Draco had to work, but I knew one thing. I was going to find out exactly what was going on with Lucius Malfoy. "Dobby!" I called.

The house elf appeared and bowed low. "What can Dobby be doing for Harry Potter?" He asked.

"I need you to go back to Malfoy Manor and keep an eye on Lucius for me. He's up to something, I just know he is."

Dobby twisted the hem of his tea towel around his hands nervously. I felt bad for sending him there, but Draco's safety was more important than anything right now. "Anything for Harry Potter." He squeaked and disappeared with a loud crack.

Ron appeared in the doorway of the dormitory. For a change, he didn't look angry as he approached me. He stopped a few feet away and hesitantly held out a hand. I closed the distance and gladly took it in my own. Ron pulled me into a half hug. I smiled into his shoulder.

"I'm sorry." He said.

"Ron,"

"No, Harry, let me finish." Ron cut me off. "I've wanted to apologize to you for a while now. I didn't because I was angry, not at you, but at myself."

I held up a hand and Ron stopped talking. "Ron, it's okay. I forgive you."

The redhead smiled. "So…can I hang with you today?" He asked. "Spending so much time with Hermione is kind of overwhelming."

I laughed. "If you don't mind sneaking down to Hogsmeade with me, then I don't mind."

We went through the tunnel that led up to the basement of Honeydukes. It was nice being able to talk to and joke around with Ron again. I had missed him.

"So why did we come down here?" Ron asked as we left Honeydukes, his arms full of chocolates and sweets.

I stole a square of chocolate from the bar he was holding. "Draco and I had a fight a while ago. We made up yesterday, but while I was telling my side of the story I realized that I wasn't exactly treating Draco the way I ought to." Ron didn't say anything. The weight on my chest and shoulders still hadn't lifted. In fact, it felt heavier. "Draco and I had fought about Bonding." I explained further. "He didn't want to take advantage of me in a weak emotional state, even though I was pressuring him. I said some things that I shouldn't have and he wouldn't talk to me for a long time." A dam had broken within me and I couldn't stop the flood of words from escaping through my lips. "When Draco finally would talk to me, he wanted me to explain why I had said what I did. I told him about how when I was with Ginny I had insisted on waiting until after marriage. When Draco asked me what had changed I told him that everything had just happened so suddenly and there was no time to worry about a wedding." I stopped to breathe deeply. Ron waited patiently. "Afterwards I realized that I had just been making excuses. If I really loved Draco, and I do, I'd find a way to marry him before we Bonded so that he doesn't feel like he's less important to me than Ginny was."

Ron remained silent for a while. I caught my breath and realized that somewhere during my tirade, we had stopped walking. "So we're ring shopping." Ron said and I nodded. "Feel better?" I nodded again and we started walking again.

We entered the jeweler's shop. The wizard behind the counter barely spared us a glance as he polished amulets. I looked down at the rings in the display case. A silver ring caught my eye. It wasn't thin or dainty, but it wasn't wide and masculine either. In the center, raised up slightly, was a small, star-shaped sapphire with a color that was so pale that it nearly wasn't there. "I'll take that one." I told the man running the shop.

He removed it from the case and told me the price. It seemed a little steep to me, but it was the perfect ring and Draco was worth it.

As Ron and I were leaving the shop, the ring safely tucked away in my pocket, Ron suddenly said, "I broke up with Hermione."

"What?" I asked, stunned. "Why?"

Ron shook his head. "You haven't talked with her lately." He said. "She's gone off the deep end."

As we passed the Three Broomsticks, I looked through the window, but could not see Draco in the crowd.

"Everytime she opens her mouth she goes on and on about how you not only betrayed Ginny, but me, her, and our future children." Ron sat down on a bench and I sat down next to him. "It's like you're the only thing she ever thinks about anymore. Everyday she's got a new a new complaint. Even Ginny has gotten over the whole ordeal faster than Hermione. I catch her making eyes at the Ravenclaw table during meals."

The news lifted another weight from my shoulders, a weight that had been there for so long that I had grown used to it. "I'm glad." I said. "She deserves to be happy."

Ron nodded. "That's one of the things that made me realize that I had no place to be angry with you." His lips turned up slightly at the corners, but fell quickly. "The other was Hermione. Everytime she said something bad about you, anger took over me. At first I thought I was angry with you, but as time passed I realized that I was angry with her for saying such things.

We sat in silence for a while. My stomach growled loudly and I felt my face flush. Ron grinned. "Come on, lunch is probably just starting." We talked amiably as we walked the path that led up to the grounds of Hogwarts.

"You!" I turned my head sharply and saw Hermione racing towards me and Ron. "This is all your fault!" She screamed.

"What are you talking about, Hermione?" I asked, backing away slightly.

She snorted. "As if you don't know." She laughed crazily. "You ruined my whole life! Our children were going to be cousins." Hadn't she gone on this rant when I had seen her in Hogsmeade a few weeks ago? "They were going to grow up together and be best friends and my kids would be good influences on your children." Okay, this was new.

"You see what I was talking about?" Ron whispered.

"Hermione," I said, trying to calm her down, "even if I didn't marry Ginny, your children still would have had cousins." I told her. "Fleur's pregnant with her first child and—"

"You think I want my children associating themselves with Phlegm spawn?" She asked incredulously.

Offended, Ron started protesting. "That's crossing the line, Hermione. If I hadn't already broken up with you, I would now."

Hermione pulled at her hair. "You are not breaking up with me!" She yelled. "We're meant to be together!"

(+)(+)(+)

The next morning I woke up a little later than usual and rushed to get ready. It was good that today was Draco's day to get breakfast, because I didn't think that I'd be able to stop by the kitchens to get food before heading up to the Astronomy and still have time before class to propose to Draco.

Just as I was about to leave the dorm after checking for the fifth time that the ring was in my pocket, Dobby appeared in front of me. "Mr. Harry Potter sir." He squeaked. "Dobby has done what Dobby was asked to do."

I looked at Dobby and then at the door. "That's great Dobby, thanks, but can this wait until later?"

"No, Mr. Harry Potter sir, you is in great danger." Dobby jumped up on the nearest bed. "Master Malfoy is a bad man and he is wanting to hurt you.

"Okay Dobby, what did you find out?" I asked hurriedly.

Dobby wrung his hands together in front of him. "Master Malfoy was very angry last night. He was having a call in the fire from somebody here and they were using loud voices."

"Who was he talking with Dobby? What were they talking about?"

"Dobby could not see who Master Malfoy was talking to, but he was very angry with her. He told her that she was not as smart as she thought she was and that she should have followed directions like a good M-mudblood."

So it had been Hermione. I swore under my breath. I wanted to tell Draco about this new information, but decided that it was best to wait until I had more of the facts.

When I reached the Astronomy Tower, Draco was pacing nervously. "Sorry I'm a little late. I had to talk to Dobby about something." I pressed my lips to his in a chaste kiss.

He smiled. "Apology accepted."

I looked down at the tray of food that was sitting on the floor and noticed that everything was arranged to spell something. Without reading it, I turned to Draco asking, "What's this?" only to find him down on one knee holding a small, velvet box.

"Harry James Potter," Draco started, but he stopped talking when I started shaking my head. His face fell and I could see tears forming in his eyes. "I'm sorry," he mumbled, "I just thought that it'd be what you wanted."

"It is what I want Draco." I said, taking his hand in mine. "I was only shaking my head because I couldn't believe that you thought of it as well." I pulled the ring I had bought for him from my pocket. "Draco Abraxas Malfoy, will you marry me?"

Draco pulled me towards him and captured my lips with his. "That's not fair." He whispered when he pulled away, leaving me breathless. "I was going to ask you first."

We exchanged rings and I was glad to see that he was happy with the one that I picked out for him, as was I with the one he gave me.

**A/N: Yeah...i know it's not the best ending, but I didn't know what else to do...**


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N: I know this chapter took me a little longer than usual as well, not as long as the last chapter took me, but still, a while. I had trouble with this chapter after about the first 300 words because I didn't know what I wanted to have happen. It'd been so long since I'd actually written anything for this story and I couldn't think of anything. Luckily, today I had this epiphany and so I was able to turn those measly 300 words into nearly two thousand, which means that this chapter isn't really as long as usual, but I had to end it where I did...sorry. Happy reading :)**

**Harry's POV**

Draco told me that he'd take care of all the wedding planning. I felt bad that he was taking this all on by himself. Then again, with the burden of the planning the wedding completely off of my shoulders I could focus on whatever was going on between Draco's father and Hermione.

So, while Draco was in the room behind Viola's portrait planning the wedding, I made my way up to Gryffindor Tower. Classes had ended for the day and so Hermione would most likely be in the Common Room. The Common Room was full of Gryffindors when I climbed through the portrait hole. In the crowd of people, I almost missed Hermione sitting by herself in the far corner of the Common Room. There was a wide bubble of empty space around her. It seemed like she was the outcast of Gryffindor.

I felt bad. The Hermione that I had been friends with since first year would never do something like this to me intentionally. I pushed my way through the Common Room until I was standing across the table from Hermione. She looked up at me. For a long time neither of us spoke. Her face was blank, expressionless. I wondered if she was under the Imperius Curse. I wouldn't put it past Mr. Malfoy.

"Are you here to tell me that you've finally realized that I was right?" She asked calmly. She sounded exactly as she always had. How was I supposed to tell if she had been cursed or not?

Before I could say anything, Ron was pulling me away from Hermione and towards the boys' dormitory. "What are you doing talking to her?" He asked over the dull roar. "We could report her to McGonagall if she was threatening you again."

I shook my head quickly. Originally, Draco was going to be the first person I told about everything, as soon as I had everything figured out that is, but it would be so nice to have someone to help me figure out what was going on. I told Ron everything I knew about the connection between what had happened and Hermione and Mr. Malfoy. "So you think she's under the Imperius Curse?" Ron asked.

"Or something like that." I nodded. "I don't' want Draco to know anything about it yet though. I have Dobby keeping an eye on Mr. Malfoy. Do you think you could keep watch on Hermione? Make a note of any odd behavior and tell me about it?"

Ron nodded and looked over at Hermione. "I hope she's under some sort of curse." He said. "It hurts to think that she'd to this of her own free will." I nodded in agreement.

It was getting late, so I said goodbye to Ron and went to join Draco in our rooms behind Viola's portrait.

(+)(+)(+)

The next morning, I woke alone in the bed. I remembered going to bed before Draco, who was still making plans for the wedding, and wondered if he had come to bed at all last night. When I found him sleeping in one of the armchairs, I had my answer.

I smiled to myself as I came up behind him. "Good morning." I whispered in his ear. He stirred, blinking blearily. His hand came up and rubbed his neck. I kissed the side of his head as I massaged his shoulders. He moaned and rolled his head from side to side, stretching. "Did you sleep well?" I asked lightly.

Draco laughed. "No. Now I know why sleeping on the couch is such an effective threat." He tilted his head back and looked up at me. "But I got a lot planned for the wedding."

I stopped rubbing his shoulders and walked around the chair to sit on his lap. "Tell me what you've planned so far." I curled my head under his chin and rested it against his chest. I could hear his heart beating.

He told me about his plans, but I didn't pay much attention. Draco's deep voice rumbled in his chest and lulled me back to sleep.

When I woke up, I had a knot in my neck. I stretched it out slowly. Draco laughed. "Now you know how I feel." He kissed the top of my head and rubbed my neck gently with one of his large hands. After a few blissful moments, Draco said, "Not that I don't' love sitting with you like this, but my legs have fallen asleep." I lifted myself slowly off of Draco's lap. He stood and lifted his long arms above his head, causing his shirt to ride up and expose a few inches of his well-toned abs.

"What are you plans for today?" I asked as he arched his back in a feline fashion. His glance at the wedding plans spread out on the table next to the armchair had me shaking my head. "I'm not letting you stay inside all day. You're already pale enough, and it's a beautiful day outside.

Draco smiled. "What did you have in mind then?" He asked. Grinning, I took Draco's hand in mine and led him out of our rooms. "Where are you taking me?"

"You'll see." I said as we reached the Entrance Hall. Dozens of students were on their way out to the grounds. The sun was shining brightly, reflecting off of the surface of the lake. Students were camped out in groups along the shore. Draco started down the path leading towards the crowd, but I tugged on his arm and directed him towards the Quidditch Pitch.

I took my broom from where it was kept in the shed, but when Draco reached for his I slapped his hand away. "What was that for?" He pouted as he cradled his 'injured' hand to his chest.

"I didn't think you'd need a broom, Mr. Veela Man."

Draco pulled a face and I laughed. "Mr. Veela Man?" He asked. I nodded. "You are one strange Gryffindor."

"But you wouldn't have me any other way." I said as I removed the snitch he had given me for Christmas from my pocket.

He raised an eyebrow at the snitch I held in my hand. "Don't you think that's a little unfair? Playing with a snitch that's attuned to you?"

I let it go and the snitch whirred around both of our heads. "Honestly, I don't think it can tell the difference." I smirked. "Weren't you just telling me a few months ago that I'm your other half?"

Draco and I went out to the center of the Pitch. I let go of the snitch and it disappeared almost instantly. "Five…four…" I got onto my broom and prepared to kick off. "Three…two…Merlin! What's that?" I shouted, pointing over Draco's shoulder. He whipped his head around to look and I took off faster than you could say 'Accio.'

"You little cheat!" Draco called as he raced after me.

We played Seeker games for a while, but it was clear that we were too evenly matched. After we had each caught the snitch four times, the two of us flew in lazy circles, enjoying the midday sun on our shoulders. I floated over to Draco on the gentle breeze. His wings flapped slowly as he hovered.

I leaned forward on my broom and tapped his shoulder lightly. "You're it." I said and shot away from him.

Draco watched me with a curious expression on his face. "I'm what?" He asked, his voice travelling easily over the silent pitch.

Cautiously, I flew closer to my Veela. "It's a Muggle game. I tagged you and now you're it. To stop being it, you have to tag someone else and then they're it."

He still seemed a little confused as he flew slowly towards me. I watched him closely and flew backwards to keep the distance. He picked up speed, his wings glowing in the sunlight. Turning around, I flew at top speed towards the other end of the pitch. Draco laughed and chased after me.

I lost sight of him for a second as I pulled out of a sharp dive. That second stretched into a minute in which I could not locate my fiancé. I began to get nervous. I could practically feel him watching me, hidden somewhere in the Quidditch Pitch. Suddenly, his hand was on my shoulder. "You're it." He whispered in my ear, causing shivers to run down my spine.

"Not fair!" I yelled as I turned around to chase him. He just laughed as he taunted me from the other end of the pitch.

Several times I got so close to catching him, only to have him escape at the last moment. "Admit it!" He yelled as I dove after him. "I'm faster than you!"

I shook my head and wiped sweat from my brow. "Never!"

He pulled out of the dive and flew the length of pitch before climbing through the air. I followed as closely as I could. As I ascended after him, I could feel my hands start slipping from my broom handle. It had gotten warm and my hands were moist with sweat. I tightened my grip and flattened myself against my broom to achieve maximum speed.

The next thing I know, my broom is above me and I'm free falling to the ground. "Draco!" I yell, hoping he can hear me, because I can barely hear myself over the air rushing past my ears. I clenched my eyes, unwilling to see my death rushing towards me.

I could faintly hear the strong beating of Draco's wings as he rushed towards me. I prayed to Merlin that he'd reach me in time. I was too young to die. There were so many things that I still had to do: marry Draco, kill Voldemort, start a family. Terror gripped tighter at my heart with each passing second. It felt like I had been falling for the longest time, and I had yet to hit the ground.

Finally, a pair of strong arms wrapped around my waist and completely stopped my descent. My feet were placed on the ground, but I couldn't stand on my own yet, I was shaking too badly. "Thank Merlin you caught me." I said, trying to laugh, but it came out as more of a breathy whimper. "I really thought I was dead there for a second." I took a few deep breaths and opened my eyes.

**A/n: I know it seems like a really abrupt ending for the chapter, but you'll see why I had to do it in the next chapter, which will hopefully be up soon, but school has kept me rather busy :P Please review :)**


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N: So, it hasn't taken me as long to upload this chapter as the previous chapter. I'm sorry, that sentence reads kinda like a nightmare. I'm really tired and I've had a pretty shitty day, so I can't think straight. But nonetheless, I told myself that I'd have this finished and posted by tonight and gosh darn it! I wasn't going to go back on that! Anyway, I hope you like it :) Happy Reading :)**

**Draco's POV**

I laughed as Harry chased me. This Muggle game was a lot more fun than I had thought it'd be when he first explained it to me. Just to keep the game interesting, I let Harry think that he was about to catch me before flying off to the other side of the pitch. Harry followed, so I flew upwards until the goal posts were smaller than my wedding band.

Suddenly, Harry screamed. I looked down and saw that he had fallen from his broom and was now plummeting towards the ground. Pulling my wings in, I narrowed my body and dove after my mate. He was too far away from me; I wasn't going to reach him in time. In a wild burst of hope, I began to work my wings harder and harder, trying to get to him.

This wasn't fair. I'd been put through too much for him to die on me now. Avoidance, acceptance, courting, proposing, it couldn't end here, now.

Harry was getting closer and closer to the ground. My heart was throwing itself against my ribcage. I was so close to Harry, but not close enough.

In the time it took me to blink, Harry disappeared. He was just gone. The ground loomed before me. I tucked my chin into my chest and rolled clumsily. When I stood up, I started looking around frantically. Harry was really and truly gone. His scent lingered only on his broomstick, which was now lowering gently to the ground.

I became frantic, and ran from the pitch as fast as my feet would carry me. My wings, which were just slowing me down at this point, retracted into my back. There were no classes and the halls were filled with students, They moved out of the way as quickly as they could when they saw me coming, but I still bowled a few of them over.

When I reached the headmaster's office, the gargoyle refused to move. "Get out of the way you giant hunk of stone. This is important." Nothing happened. I hit the gargoyle as hard as I could. The skin on my knuckles cracked and blood flowed down my fingers. The gargoyle still refused to move. I spat on it and ran off towards the dungeons.

Professor Snape was sitting at his desk in his classroom, grading papers. "Severus!" He looked up, realizing immediately that something was wrong. I usually only called him by his first name in the privacy of my manor or his home, but right now I needed my godfather, the man who helped raise me, not my professor.

"Draco," Severus rushed to me and took my bleeding hand, "what happened?" He led me to his private rooms and started smearing a Healing Salve on my wounds.

A warm sensation spread over my injured hand, but I took no notice to it. "He's gone Sev." Tears burned at my eyes as they prepared to fall down my cheeks. Severus didn't react visibly. "We were at the Quidditch pitch and he fell off his broom, and right as he was about to hit the ground he just disappeared." I wiped the tears from my face with the hand that Sev wasn't busy healing.

"Have you told the headmaster?" Severus asked as he wrapped my hand.

"I tried to, but the stupid gargoyle wouldn't let me into his office."

Severus checked the time and sighed heavily. "The headmaster's just left for London to attend a meeting with the minister. I will send him an owl, but it may be several hours before he receives it."

Several hours? "What are we supposed to do until then?" I asked, "Harry could be dead in a few hours."

"All we can do is wait and hope that he's okay."

(+)(+)(+)

Ron approached me outside the entrance to the dungeons that night after dinner. His face was flushed and he took a moment to catch his breath before speaking. "I looked for you in the Great Hall, but you weren't there, and then I remembered Harry saying something about eating with you in the Astronomy Tower. By the time I got there though, you weren't there, so I've been running through the whole bloody castle trying to find you." He leaned against the wall and took a few more deep breaths. "Can we talk?" He looked around. "Preferably somewhere we won't be overheard?"

I looked at him for a while. The rooms behind Viola's portrait (which Harry and I had started calling 'our rooms') were private, but did I want to bring Ron there? It was kind of nice having a place in the castle that only Harry and I knew about. Finally, I nodded and led him quickly to the Entrance Hall. He followed silently.

The portrait swung shut behind us. Ron sat down in one of the armchairs and I took the other one. "So what did you want to talk about?" I asked after a few uncomfortable moments of complete silence.

Ron looked uncertain. "I'm not sure I should be telling you this. I mean, Harry didn't want you to know until he was sure he knew the whole story, but now that he's disappeared, I thought that you should be informed." He refused to look at me. "I suppose it all started when you first drank the love potion that was meant for Harry. He and I weren't exactly on the best of terms then, but I know he was worried about you and wanted to find out who had done that to you. Then you got that fire call from your father, and Harry started to get suspicious. He had one of the Hogwarts house elves go to your manor and see what your father was up to." I didn't like where this was going. "Long story short, we're pretty sure that your father is working with Hermione, trying to split you and Harry up, whatever it takes."

We sat in stone cold silence while I tried to process what the redhead had just told me. "Why are you telling me this now?" I asked, dreading the obvious answer.

"I think your father might have taken Harry, or helped V-V-Voldemort take him."

There was a loud buzzing in my ears. Ron kept talking, but I was no longer paying attention to him. Ever since Harry had disappeared on the Quidditch Pitch, I had been scared that it had been war related. Ron had been the first to voice these fears, and suddenly it all seemed too real. How had Voldemort even gotten through the wards. They were supposed to keep us safe from him, keep _Harry_ safe from him.

"So…," Ron said, "how are we going to save him?"

I shook my head. "I don't know. Dumbledore won't let me attend the meetings."

Ron laughed quietly. "You're going to wait for Dumbledore to get Harry out of this?" I didn't see what was wrong with that, so I nodded. "And here I thought you were a Slytherin." He leaned back in the armchair, shaking his head. "You know, if you had been taken, Harry wouldn't be sitting here waiting for Dumbledore to save you. He'd be on his way to get you back himself, most likely without a back-up plan."

He was right. Harry didn't play by the rules when it came to this, but could I possibly be as brave as my mate? Probably not. There was a reason that he's in Gryffindor and I'm in Slytherin. I'll do anything to get what I want, as long as it doesn't put me in harm's way. "What are you proposing? That we barge into the Dark Lord's camp and take him back by force?"

"Of course not. I don't have a death wish." Ron said, "What I'm saying is we should sneak in, rescue Harry, and then sneak out again."

Was he crazy? "You do realize that this is Harry Potter, right? He's going to be heavily guarded." I sighed. "If he's not already dead by the time we get there."

"All the more reason to get there as soon as possible." Ron said as he stood. "I've got everything we need prepared in the Gryffindor Common Room, let's go."

I followed Ron up to Gryffindor Tower, but waited in the hallway while Ron went inside. A few moments later, the portrait swung open and closed again, but no one had come out of the common room. I looked around the hallway curiously. I was alone. Someone laughed and I whirled around to see who was there, but the hallway was still empty. "Hello?" They laughed again. "Who's there."

Suddenly, Ron was standing right in front of me. He was holding a cloak that looked to be woven of water. "That's all we're taking?" I asked skeptically.

"It's all we need." He grinned confidently.

It didn't look very large. "I don't even think we'll both fit under it."

Ron shrugged. "Harry and I fit under it well enough."

For a few moments, I hoped that he was just kidding, and that he had another Invisibility Cloak. That hope faded as he just continued to stare at me. I shook my head. "Just because you and Harry fit under it, doesn't mean that you and I will fit under it. In case you haven't noticed, Harry's a few inches shorter than you, whereas _I_ am at least two inches _taller_ than you." Silence. "This means, we're not going to fit."

Ron frowned. "Well that's a problem." He thought in silence for a while. "You don't happen to have Veela powers that make you invisible, do you?"

I glared at him. "You're kidding, right? Veela's have wings and magic. That's it. You should know that as well as I do. You _are_ a pureblood."

"Well, can you get a hold of another Invisibility Cloak?"

"With what money?" I asked, exasperated. "In case you didn't know, my father cut me off as soon as I told him who my mate was. For the moment, I'm as poor as you." I could tell from the look on his face that that had been a low blow. "I'm sorry. It's just that I'm worried about Harry."

"I understand." Ron said, nodding. "I'm worried too."

(+)(+)(+)

The next morning I woke up in a strange room I'd never seen before. It took me a few minutes to remember that Ron had led me to the Room of Requirements to make plans for rescuing Harry now that we couldn't both use the Invisibility Cloak. I vaguely recalled falling asleep while Ron had been discussing possible potions after ruling Polyjuice out. We didn't have the time to brew it.

I blinked and stretched. Doing so, I came to realize that someone's arms were wrapped tightly around my waist. Instantly, I knew it wasn't Harry. Slowly, I turned around. A head of red hair was the first thing I saw. "Weasley, you have ten seconds to remove yourself from my person before I forcefully remove you myself."

"Shut up Draco," he mumbled, "I'm trying to sleep."

"Ten. Nine. Eight." I began counting.

Weasley cracked an eye open and glared at me. "What are you doing? I was up late last night planning how we're going to rescue _your _mate while you slept soundly on the couch."

"Four. Three. Two." Suddenly, the Gryffindor noticed the position in which we were laying. He jerked back and toppled from the bed onto the floor. "Thank you." I said stiffly as I stood gracefully and straightened my robes. "Now let's hear this plan that you were up so late working on."

My mind flashed back to just yesterday morning when Harry had said such similar words to me. I remembered him falling asleep in my lap, and how breathtakingly peaceful he looked there.

"Are you okay?" Ron broke through my reverie. I nodded and he continued talking. I had missed the first part of the plan, but it didn't matter much. As long as we got Harry back here and safe, it didn't matter. "I hope you're okay with that." Ron said and I realized that my thoughts had been drifting again.

"Okay with what?" I asked.

Ron sighed. "Fine, I'll go through it again, but pay attention this time. Any potion that would help us get a second person into V-V-Voldemort's camp takes too long to brew, and all the spells I found that would help are too complicated for us to do on our own." I didn't like the direction this was taking. "I figured that since you are Harry's mate, you'll be able to find him faster than I can and fly him out of there with the least hassle."

"So you're sending me in there alone?"

**A/N: I'm sorry, it's kind of a little bit another cliff hanger sort of maybe kinda...please review. I like reviews...**


	28. Chapter 28

**A/N: I know that it's taken me a really really long time to post this chapter. I'm sorry. School ended and I graduated and then I had a dance recital and lots of parties and getting ready for college and life and...yeah...lots of things. But it's here now, so i suppose that's all that matters, right? Enjoy :)**

**Draco's POV**

There I was, mere feet from the Dark Lord's camp. Alone. I cursed Ron as I took a few hesitant steps forward. The wards would be coming up soon. After a few more steps I felt them, an invisible wall standing between me and a falling apart house. I took out my wand. Ron had given me the spells I'd need to get through the wards; I just hoped they'd work. I felt the wards fall. That seemed too easy. A few steps later, I found out why; there was another set of wards.

In the end, it took me nearly half an hour to get through all of the wards. Honestly, I was shocked that it didn't take me longer. In a moment, I realized why the wards weren't as hard as I had expected them to be. There was a patrol of Death Eaters all around the manor, which no longer looked rundown. As I silently slipped across the dewy grass, I wondered how Ron had known where the Dark Lord's camp was.

He could be a Death Eater, I realized, I could be walking right into a trap. I quickly shook the thought from my head. Ron was the embodiment of Gryffindor. There was no way he could be a Death Eater.

I reached the doors of the manor and stifled a groan. Three Death Eaters guarded the door. How was I supposed to get inside now? I backed away from the door and walked the perimeter of the manor. There was no other entrance. The three Death Eaters had not moved by the time I got back to the entrance. I had to get to Harry as fast as possible, but with these three buffoons standing in my way, I didn't see how that was possible.

A Death Eater came up behind me, and I barely jumped out of his way in time. It would have been chaotic if he had run into me. I probably wouldn't have made it out alive. The four Death Eaters began talking. Their voices were muffled by the masks, but I could hear some of what they were saying. "McNair and…switch…but Crabbe…here…eye out…Malfoy. He's…coming…rescue his…"

I couldn't be sure, but it sounded like there was going to be a change in guards eventually. If I just waited for that, maybe I could sneak in and get to Harry.

Twenty minutes passed and still there had been no change in guards. My feet were beginning to ache and I worried that I wouldn't be able to reach Harry in time. Ten more minutes passed and I heard voices behind me. I turned around and saw two more Death Eaters headed my way. Finally.

For a while, the Death Eaters conversed. I shifted my weight from foot to foot, trying to work the stiffness from my legs. The two new Death Eaters took positions by the doors, and the three that had been relieved of their duties went inside. Before the door could close, I slipped inside. The inside of the manor was dark and dank. I struggled to see even three feet in front of me. After running into a few walls, my eyes began to adjust. I could make out enough to navigate through the maze of narrow hallways.

Where Harry was being held was a mystery to me. I started searching for a room that was heavily guarded. When I didn't find one, I searched for the dungeon, but found that the manor had no lower level, simply the ground floor and the second floor. I went back through the entire ground floor, looking into every room the best I could without arousing any suspicion.

Finally, I came to a door that would not open on the second floor. I muttered an Unlocking charm, but the door remained firmly locked. Several charms and spells later, the door remained unopened. I didn't know what else to try. I had run through my entire knowledge of spells and charms that would be helpful in a situation such as this. "Bombarda." I muttered, grasping at fleeting ideas. There was a small explosion, but, when the smoke cleared, the door was unharmed.

"What the hell?" I hissed angrily as I kicked the door. There was absolutely no way to get through this door. I rested my forehead against it and sighed. "Harry?" I called softly. "Are you there?" It would be just my luck to be trying to get into a room that Harry wasn't even in.

For a while, there was silence, and then, "Draco? Is that you?"

Relief flooded through me. "Yes, Harry, I'm here."

"Why?" Harry asked. His voice was closer than it had been before. "You shouldn't be here. They'll get you too."

"No they won't." I said confidently. "Besides, how was I supposed to sit back and wait at Hogwarts? You can't honestly tell me that you'd wait for someone to come rescue me if it had been me who'd been taken." Before Harry could protest, I asked, "Harry, are there any windows in there?"

"Yeah," he answered hesitantly, "but don't get any wild ideas, Draco. The window doesn't open either, I've tried."

I pulled the Invisibility Cloak a little tighter around myself as a few Death Eaters came down the narrow hallway. As soon as I'm sure they're out of earshot, I whisper, "Stay away from the window Harry, I'll be right there."

"Draco!" Harry protested, but I was already walking back to the entrance. The grounds were emptier than they had been when I had arrived. I walked carefully through the shadows until I reached the other side of the manor, where the window Harry's room was. My wings slid out silently, pressing warmly against my back.

This rescue was going to have to be pulled off perfectly. As soon as I took the Invisibility Cloak off, I'd only have so much time to break the window and get Harry out of there before the Death Eaters shot me out of the sky. I slowly removed my outer robes and my shirt. If I didn't time this right, I'd be dead.

In one quick motion, I threw off the Invisibility Cloak and pushed forcefully off the ground. Seconds later I could hear the gasps of Death Eaters and colorful spells whizzed past me. I finally reached the second floor windows and quickly found the window to Harry's room. He stood in the corner as I sent a spell through the window, shattering the glass.

"Do you have a death wish?" Harry asked as he leaned out the window hesitantly. I grabbed him around the middle and held him close to me as I flew quickly around the spells the Death Eaters were shooting at us. "We're going to die!" Harry yelled when I turned into a dive as we reached the wards.

We were outside of the wards in seconds and I pulled out of the dive. Harry caught his breath while I gained altitude. "Do you really not trust me enough to pull out of the dive in time?" I asked, trying not to sound as hurt as I felt.

Harry wrapped his arms around me, trying to find the most comfortable position for me to hold him. "Of course I trust you, Draco. It's just that I'm used to being in control when I do dangerous flying stunts."

I grinned. "If I let you take control, will you do dangerous stunts with me in bed tonight?" Harry blushed bright red and I laughed.

(+)(+)(+)

"It's good to have you back, Harry." Ron clapped my mate on the shoulder as we sat in the Gryffindor Common Room. I could feel the other lions watching me carefully from all corners of the room. It made me uncomfortable. I couldn't wait to get out of there with Harry.

Harry turned to me and I brought my attention back to the conversation. "I think I'm going to stay here tonight."

I felt my heart break in my chest. A lump rose in my throat. It was a good thing I didn't know how to respond to that because I didn't think I could talk without that lump dissolving into tears. As a Slytherin, I couldn't afford to cry in front of all these Gryffindors.

"Is that okay?" Harry asked. He looked concerned.

I nodded and forced a smile. "Of course it is." I said quietly, swallowing the lump in my throat. "I'll see you at breakfast."

In less than five minutes I found myself in the bedroom behind the bookcase, breaking down in tears. Viola had noticed that something was wrong when I entered the rooms, but I ignored her. She would give me hell for it when I came out of the bedroom, but I just needed to be alone right now. I collapsed onto the bed and curled into a ball.

When I woke up, it wasn't yet dawn. I had too much energy to just lie in bed all morning, so I got up and worked on the wedding plans while making pancakes in the small kitchen area. Viola scolded me for ignoring her last night. I quickly got fed up with that and silenced her portrait. Her face turned red, but I could no longer hear her, so I was content.

I was sitting in my favorite chair, having long finished the pancakes I had made, when Harry came into the room. "You weren't at breakfast." He said as he sat down in the chair next to mine. "I was worried."

"Sorry, I got caught up in the wedding plans and I lost track of time." I said without looking at him.

"Are you mad at me?" He asked and I looked up. "I feel like you're mad at me."

It took me a while to figure out how to answer him. "I'm not…mad, per se." I said slowly. "I just missed you last night. You have no idea how worried I was. I felt like you didn't care."

Harry moved to kneel in front of me. "Of course I care Draco. I care about you so much that it hurts sometimes. It's just that sometimes I need a little space, and some time for just me and my friends. As much as I love you, I can't be around you all the time." He smiled and brushed my cheek with his fingertips. "But today I'm all yours to do with what you want."

I raised an eyebrow. "Anything I want?" I asked suggestively.

He laughed. "I thought we were going to wait until after the wedding."

I sighed dramatically. "You're right. I guess I'll just have to be patient."

A kiss was placed on my hand. "Yes, but the sooner you finish the wedding plans, the sooner we can move onto the actual wedding."

"Maybe I should work on the plans today then." I said, picking my quill up. Harry pouted and I smiled. "I'm just kidding, but we're not going to go flying for a while. I'm too afraid that I'll lose you again."

**A/N: R.E.V.I.E.W. Find out what it means to me. Nope...doesn't quite have the same ring to it as Respect.**


	29. Chapter 29

**A/N: Here's the next chapter of Soul Mate :) It hasn't been _terribly_ long since I updated last, but it has kind of been a while, hasn't it? This chapter was hard to write at first. Like, each word was torture. It was bad. But it got easier, so i hope the last half or so isn't too bad. Enjoy :)**

**Harry's POV**

I knew that Draco was hurt as soon as he left Gryffindor Tower, but there were things that I needed to tell Ron that I couldn't afford to have Draco overhear. There were things that happened to me inside that manor that I never wanted him to find out about.

The crowd in the Common Room cleared slowly and eventually it was only me and Ron sitting in front of the fire. For a while, Ron sat in silence, staring at me. Finally, he said, "Why didn't you go with Draco? He's been really worried about you. Is everything okay with the two of you?"

"No." I sighed. "I just don't want him to hear what I'm about to tell you." Ron leaned close, patient and attentive. I rubbed my hands nervously along my legs, trying to dry them of the sweat that had accumulated. "They did things to me there, Ron." I said quietly. Saying it made everything so much more real. Almost like if I hadn't said anything, it would have all turned out to be a dream.

"Things?" Ron asked hesitantly.

I couldn't find the words to explain what had happened. The Death Eaters had hurt me with spells and curses, but none of them had left any lasting damage. That hadn't been too bad. I was used to pain. What had scarred me most about being there was when Lucius Malfoy had come into the room. He had sneered about me not being good enough for his son for a while. I tried not to pay attention to him, but then he started touching me. He told me that Draco wouldn't want me anymore after he was through with me, that Veela's wouldn't accept their mates if they were unclean.

Ron comforted me as I told him. He insisted that Draco would still want me, no matter what. I hoped that Ron was right, but couldn't help but worry.

Hermione suddenly appeared in front of the fire. "What are you doing here?" She asked hotly. "It's all your fault that his plans fell through."

"How is it his fault?" Ron asked, as I was not composed enough to speak for myself.

"He forced me to act early. He's never played by the rules. You're just so frustrating, Harry!" She yelled and then stormed up to the girls' dormitory. Ron and I looked at each other in confusion.

"She hasn't gotten any better?" I asked, wiping my face with the sleeve of my robes.

Ron shrugged. "While you were…gone…she didn't really do anything out of the ordinary. She spent most of her time in the library and left me alone for the most part." He stood up and stretched. "We should be getting some sleep."

I nodded, but before collapsing in bed and getting some much needed rest, I went to the bathroom and took a shower. I could still feel the elder Malfoy's hands on me as the hot water massaged my back. When I stepped out of the shower, I felt clean again. Something that I worried I'd never feel again.

(+)(+)(+)

The next morning I woke early feeling much better than I had the night before. Draco wasn't in the Great Hall come breakfast time, and I had a feeling that he was in 'our' rooms. I was right. He was sitting in his favorite chair. He seemed to be angry with me, but he claimed that he had just been worried about me.

I noticed that he'd been working on the wedding plans. When I told him that I was all his for the day, he got a mischievous gleam in his eye. I knew what he was thinking and quickly reminded him that we were going to wait until after the wedding. He didn't push the subject any further and I was glad. I didn't want him to find out what had happened to me.

Draco refused to go flying. He said that he was too afraid of losing me again. I didn't mind. "Okay, so what do you propose we do?" I asked.

"Something outside." He said after a minute of consideration. "It's too nice out to stay indoors."

I agreed. "We could just go for a walk around the grounds."

As we left the castle, there was something in the air that just felt…wrong. Draco seemed to notice it too. We walked slowly towards Hagrid's hut hand in hand. Neither of us talked. We were too busy trying to figure out what was going on to make the air feel like this.

When we neared the Forbidden Forest, we realized why, but it was too late. Hundreds of Death Eaters were approaching the school. We turned around and raced back to the castle and up to Dumbledore's office. All of the teachers were already gathered there. They looked up when Draco and I burst through the door, panting with fear and exhaustion. "Death Eaters." I breathed.

"We know, Mr. Potter." Professor Snape sneered.

"What are you going to do about it?" I asked angrily. Everyone's lives were in danger and the teachers were holed up in Dumbledore's office _talking_. I didn't see how that was helping.

Screams told us that students had noticed Hogwarts' visitors. I rushed out of Dumbledore's office angrily. Draco followed close behind. The first stop I made was to Gryffindor Tower. Luckily, Ron was in the Common Room. "What's going on?" He asked worriedly when he saw the grim look on our faces.

"Death Eaters are invading Hogwarts." I told him before taking the stairs two at a time up to the boys' dormitory. After grabbing the Marauders Map from my trunk, I raced back down the stairs and shoved it into Ron's hands. "Take the tunnel that runs to Honeydukes and get as many students as you can to safety."

Ron nodded determinedly. I grabbed Draco by the sleeve and led him to the Entrance Hall. He nearly tripped over me as I stopped suddenly. I turned to him. "Draco, I want you to go to our rooms and stay there until this is over. I don't want you getting hurt." He opened his mouth to protest, but I silenced him with a kiss. "Please. I love you too much, and this is just something that I have to do alone."

Draco's eyes grew resigned and sad. "Be safe. You better come back to me."

"I will."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

(+)(+)(+)

There was nothing but chaos surrounding me as I left the Entrance Hall and stepped foot onto the grounds. The sixth and seventh years who had heard what was happening had rushed out to help defend the castle. From where I stood near the entrance to the castle I could see every single one of the professors. Order members were arriving quickly. Fighting was escalating. My muscles tensed and my heart jumped up into my throat. This was it. The war was ending right here, right now.

I stalked across the battlefield. Voldemort was here somewhere; I could feel him. Something hit me in the back and I fell to the ground. Pain seared up and down my spine. It hurt to move, but I stood and faced the Death Eater anyway. Her mask was cracked and I could make out just enough of her face to know that it was Bellatrix LeStrange. I saw red. Spells flew from her wand faster than I could cast, and I painfully dodged a majority of them. A Cutting Hex grazed my leg and I could feel blood soaking through my pant leg.

"Is Baby Potter too scawed to cast back?" She mocked. "_Crucio_." She cackled. The pain coursing through my body intensified, and I found myself writhing on the ground. It was a few minutes before she lifted the spell. My lungs burned as I tried to catch my breath. "Has Baby Potter had enough?" Bellatrix asked.

"_Stupefy_." I muttered, aiming my wand at her as I stood on shaky legs.

She dodged it skillfully and turned back to me with her eyes on fire. "You cheeky little brat." The mocking tone in her voice was gone now. Before she could cast the spell on her lips, a beam of red light hit her from the side and she collapsed.

Neville ran up to me. "Are you okay, Harry?" He asked.

"Yeah," I said breathlessly, "thanks Nev."

I didn't hit another spot of trouble until I reached the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Two Death Eaters came out of nowhere and grabbed me. The jolt caused me to drop my wand. It hit the ground and rolled several feet. I groaned at my misfortune and took a look at the Death Eaters who had apprehended me. From their stature, I guessed that they were the fathers of Crabbe and Goyle. My feet lifted off the ground. They carried me through the forest until we reached a small clearing where Voldemort was sitting in a throne that looked to consist of tree roots.

"Mr. Potter." He greeted in a raspy voice that sent chills down my aching spine. "How nice of you to join us."

Here I was, facing Voldemort for hopefully the last time, and I wasn't even armed. My shoulders felt like they were about to dislocate from their sockets, but the two goons wouldn't let me down. "Voldemort." I greeted coolly.

The dark wizard sneered. "You will learn some respect before I kill you." He stood from his throne. "Bow to me." Crabbe Sr. and Goyle Sr. dropped me. I fell to my knees, but quickly rose to stand in front of Voldemort. "How dare you disobey me? I said bow. _Imperius._"

A voice in the back of my mind told me to bow. My body began to jerk as I tried to fight it. I began to bend at the waist. Voldemort looked smug, and that made me fight even harder against the curse. Finally, I had my body back under my control and my control alone. "_Crucio_." Voldemort hissed, and yet again my body was consumed with pain. The curse was lifted for a few seconds, before he recast it. Finally, I was left to lay on the ground as I tried to will away the lingering pain.

"Where's your wand, Potter?" Voldemort asked as I tried to stand. "Aren't you at least going to try and fight back? Where's your Gryffindor courage?"

I gritted my teeth. "I dropped it." I muttered as I finally managed to get to my feet.

Voldemort laughed. The sound was unnerving and made goosebumps appear on my arms. "How terribly unlucky for you." He cackled gleefully. "Because you see, Mr. Potter, I don't care if you are unarmed. You are currently he only thing standing between me and complete control of the Wizarding world. Without your wand. You are at my mercy."

The two buffoon Death Eaters chuckled behind me. I rolled my eyes. "I know," Voldemort said, "they aren't the brightest, but they're loyal and they get the job done."

Suddenly, Draco burst into the clearing. His cheeks were flushed and his eyes narrowed at the sight of Voldemort standing in front of me as I struggled to stay standing. He had his wand out in an instant, pointing it at Voldemort's throat.

"You don't scare me, Draco." He said, without taking his ruby red eyes off of me. "Even if you kill me, you won't be able to save Harry in time."

Draco looked nervously from Voldemort to me. _You were supposed to stay in our rooms._ I tried to tell him with my eyes. _You were supposed to stay safe._

"_Advada Kedavra_." Both wizards said at the same time. Draco shouted the curse, but Voldemort simply said it as if he were commenting on the weather. There was a bright flash of green and then the pain went away and there was nothing but darkness.

**A/N: I'm thinking only like...one or two more chapters after this...**


	30. Chapter 30

**A/N: Here it is, the last official chapter of Soul Mate. It's been quite a journey. Don't worry, I'll be posting an epilogue shortly. It probably won't be very long, but it'll be...something. I hope you like this chapter. I worked pretty hard on it...**

**Draco's POV**

I was getting restless. Harry had been gone for about twenty minutes and I worried for his safety. Finally I couldn't take it anymore. I rushed out onto the grounds. Harry was nowhere in sight. I spotted Neville dueling a Death Eater a few yards away.

"Have you seen Harry?" I asked after I had helped him incapacitate the Death Eater.

He nodded, scanning the battlegrounds for nearby Death Eaters. "I helped him with Bellatrix a few minutes ago. He went in that direction afterwards, and I haven't seen him since." The Gryffindor said, pointing towards the Forbidden Forest.

Fear welled up inside me as I ran through the trees as fast as my legs would take me. How was I supposed to find Harry? I reached a small clearing and froze, looking around for something to tell me what direction to go. I was about to give up when I heard muffled voices coming from my right.

I finally reached another clearing where the Dark Lord was standing in front of Harry. My mate was shaking and I could tell that he was in pain. Before I knew it, I had my wand out and pointed at the Dark Lord. "You don't scare me, Draco." The evil wizard said without looking at me. His voice was cold and raspy. I wondered if it sounded like that because he didn't have much of a nose. "Even if you kill me, you won't be able to save Harry in time."

Panic scattered my thoughts and tensed my muscles. I turned my eyes off of the Dark Lord and onto my mate. He looked betrayed. I felt bad for not staying in the castle, like I told him that I would. In the end, wasn't it good that I came after him? Voldemort was about to kill him. He didn't even have his wand out!

I tried not to think of how betrayed he looked as I looked back at Voldemort and shouted, "_Avada Kedavra_!" at the same time as the Dark Lord cast the same curse with his wand pointed right at Harry's forehead. There was a bright green flash and then I watched as Harry fell limp to the ground. I ran to hold him. Tears welled up in my eyes as I held his head to my chest. His hair was soft against my arms. I ran my fingers through it.

Suddenly, I was pulled away from my dead mate. Crabbe Sr. and Goyle Sr. lifted me off the ground by my arms and shook me. "What did you do to him?" They asked.

"I didn't do anything to him!" I yelled though my tears, struggling to get out of their grip and back to Harry. "Your 'master' is the one who killed him. Weren't you watching?"

"Don't be funny Malfoy." Crabbe Sr. barked, pointing at the Dark Lord, lying limp on the forest floor. I was shocked. I didn't think that the Killing Curse would actually kill Voldemort. If it was that easy, why hadn't someone done it before? "Pick him up" I was thrown to the ground next to Harry's body.

I lifted him into my arms, tears falling from my cheeks and landing on his robes. Goyle Sr. picked up the body of the Dark Lord. It looked so comical. I would have laughed if my mate wasn't lying dead in my arms. Crabbe Sr. led the way as we walked back to the battlefields that the grounds of Hogwarts had become.

Everyone froze when they caught sight of the five of us. Silence hovered eerily over everything. Neville approached me, a sword gripped tightly in his hand. The blade was stained red. "What happened?" He asked, his voice shaking. "Is he…" I nodded. A tear slid down the Gryffindor's cheek.

Ron came rushing towards us. "Harry! No, Harry!" He started to take my mate from my arms. I tightened my grip. Ron looked me in the eye understandingly and removed his hands from Harry. He wiped the tears from his face and took a step back.

The Death Eaters started coming out of shock and raised their wands again. "Watch out!" I warned Ron and Neville. They turned instantly and narrowly avoided a Cutting Hex. Fighting resumed. I quickly ducked back into the Forbidden Forest with Harry. There was no way I could fight right now. I was going to die in a few minutes anyway. It was strange though. I couldn't feel my body shutting down yet. I wondered when it would start happening.

I closed my eyes so that I would have to see Harry's body. My heart felt like it was shrinking with every beat. Is this what dying felt like? Sobs wracked my body. Harry and I had overcome so many obstacles to be together, only to die before we had Bonded. I wished that I could hear his voice one last time, and that I could tell him how much I loved him again. I couldn't even remember the last time I had said the words 'I love you.' When was the last time we kissed? Had we kissed this morning? I suddenly couldn't remember. Panic gripped at my chest.

"Draco?" Now I was hearing Harry's voice. I pulled my knees up to my chest and buried my face into my arms. Why couldn't I just die already? "Draco, are you okay?" His voice was louder this time. It was almost as if he was sitting right in front of me.

Something warm touched my hand and I jerked away, looking up into Harry's green eyes. "Am I dead?" I asked softly. Had it really been that smooth of a transition?

Harry shook his head and gently pried my knees from my chest. He sat on my lap and pressed soft kisses along my jaw line. "You're just as alive as I am, don't worry." He said between kisses.

Another tear fell down my cheek and Harry kissed it away. "Harry, you are dead." I whispered. "_He_ killed you. I watched it happen. I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you." I couldn't look him in the face after telling him that. I was too ashamed.

"No Draco, I'm not dead. Voldemort didn't kill me. He killed the Horcrux that was in my scar. Along with his snake, Nagini, they were the last Horcruxes we needed to destroy before Voldemort could truly be killed. Professor Dumbledore and I have been working on destroying them since summer after fourth year, when he rose to power again."

"So, you're not dead?" He shook his head. I kissed him deeply. "We are getting married as soon as this bloody war is over." I told him, leaving no room for argument. "I don't care if it has to be a small wedding in the Great Hall, I need you."

Harry smiled softly. "Whatever you want is fine with me Dray. As long as you're happy."

The fighting moved closer to the edge of the forest and soon battle sounds drifted towards us. Harry looked past me longingly. I didn't want him to go back out there and fight, but I knew that I couldn't stop him. I slowly removed my arms from around his waist. "Go on."

"Are you sure? If you want me to, I can stay here with you. I'm sure they've got it handled out there." He offered, but I could tell that he was itching to get to where the action was.

I shook my head. "I know you want to help." Harry grinned and stood from my lap. "I'm coming with you though. That's my only condition."

"I don't want you to get hurt Draco. You shouldn't even be out here in the first place. I asked you to stay in the castle and stay safe." He said softly as he brushed hair from my face. I tried to protest, but Harry placed a finger on my lips and silenced me. "Please, for me, stay out of the battle?"

I removed Harry's finger from my lips. "Harry, I've watched you die and then come back to life in the past hour. I'm allowed to protective of you now."

My mate smiled hesitantly. "Just be careful, okay?" I nodded and we walked out of the forest hand in hand.

(+)(+)(+)

The battle was over. After the Dark Lord was killed, the Death Eaters had no chance of winning the battle, but they put up a hell of a fight anyway. Of course, the Light side had losses as well. Harry grieved for each of them. No matter how many times he was told that it wasn't his fault, he still felt the responsibility for the deaths.

By the time all the bodies were claimed and the Great Hall had emptied out, Harry looked drained. I led him back to our rooms. He just stood in the entrance after I let go of his hand. "Come on Harry, let's get you to bed." I said softly.

"Okay." He said, his voice rough, but he didn't move.

I gently guided him to the bedroom. He stood at the edge of the bed and stared straight ahead with blank eyes. Not knowing what else to do, I carefully slid his robes off and unbuttoned his shirt. When Harry made no move to undress himself, I took his shirt off for him. I sat him down on the bed and stripped him down to his boxers. Once we were both lying down, I wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled him towards me.

When we woke up the next morning, Harry was curled in a ball as far away from me on the bed as he could get. I showered and dressed, and when I returned to the room, he hadn't moved. I gently uncurled him and peppered kisses along his jaw line and down his neck until he woke. "What time is it?" He asked groggily.

"Time for you to get up." I said. He accepted a kiss, but didn't make any motion to return it. I swiped my tongue across his bottom lip. He obediently opened his mouth, but there was no emotion to the kiss, so I pulled away. "Are you okay?"

Harry sat up. "I don't know." He admitted. "I feel…numb, like I used up all of my emotions yesterday."

I wanted to use a Cheering Charm on him, but I felt like it wouldn't be fair. He needed to grieve, and if this was how he did it, then I had no place interfering. "Do you want to spend the day with Ron?" I asked, watching his eyes the entire time. "I have some things to do today and I don't want you to spend the day alone in here. It wouldn't be good for you."

He looked up at me. "Why can't I stay with you?" He asked. He sounded so broken, just as I had felt the day before when I thought that I'd never see him alive again.

"Do you want to?" He nodded, and I couldn't deny him. "Okay." A small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, but it didn't reach his eyes. "Why don't you get dressed while I make us some breakfast?"

"Okay." Harry said, but didn't move. I had a flashback from the night before and worried for a second before Harry stood and moved over to the wardrobe. Less than an hour later, the two of us were leaving our rooms and heading down to the dungeons.

I needed to talk to Blaise about being my best man and the headmaster about officiating the wedding and using the Great Hall as the venue today so that we could have the wedding tomorrow. I didn't want Harry to overhear the details. The whole reason I was doing the wedding plans was that so it would all be a surprise for Harry.

Blaise was in the Slytherin Common Room when I climbed through the portrait hole. "What's up?" He asked when I approached him. He noticed Harry behind me and asked, "Is he okay?"

I nodded. "He's fine. He's just been having a rough time since yesterday. You know." Blaise nodded. "Now, I needed to talk to you about being my best man for the wedding. Will you do it?" I didn't mind so much Harry hearing that part.

"Of course I'll do it." Blaise said, acting offended that I'd even have to ask. "When's the wedding?"

I glanced at Harry, who was staring into the fire. I couldn't be sure that he was even listening, but to be safe I leaned towards Blaise and whispered it in his ear.

"I'll be there."

Our next stop was the headmaster's office. I didn't know the password, but luckily the gargoyles moved to reveal the entrance as I approached him. Not about to look a gift unicorn in the mouth, I climbed the spiral staircase and knocked on the door. "Come in." Professor Dumbledore called and the door opened. Harry and I stepped into the office. I sat down in one of the armchairs across from the headmaster's desk. Harry hovered nervously between them before sitting in the empty one. "What can I do for you boys?"

I carefully cast _Muffiliato _around Professor Dumbledore and I so that Harry wouldn't be able to hear our discussion. Harry didn't seem to notice, so I went ahead and asked, "Would you be willing to officiate mine and Harry's wedding?"

Professor Dumbledore's eyes twinkled. "Of course, my boy. When would this joyous celebration take place?"

"Tomorrow, and I was actually hoping that you'd let us use the Great Hall."

He smiled. "That's the spirit! We've got to celebrate that true love can exist even in the darkest of times. I think this is what we all need to get us back into good spirits." He leaned back in his high-backed chair and stroked his beard. "I will get right to getting everything planned and ready." I tried to tell him that I already had everything planned, but he wouldn't hear of it. He shooed Harry and I out of his office. "Make sure Harry stays in Gryffindor Tower tonight and both of you should be in your positions by noon tomorrow." The headmaster said before shutting the door to his office.

Harry looked at me strangely. "What was that all about?"

(+)(+)(+)

I hadn't seen Harry in over 12 hours. As soon as Ron had heard of the wedding, he kidnapped Harry and refused to let me see him. It was nearly noon now and I couldn't wait to finally see my mate again. I paced nervously around empty hallways. By the end of today, Harry and I would be married. By tomorrow morning, Harry and I would be Bonded. The thought of it sent shivers of excitement down my spine.

Noon rolled around and I was waiting where the Head Table used to be in the Great Hall. I had to admit that Professor Dumbledore knew how to plan a wedding. Everything was running smoothly so far and looked perfect. The doors to the Great Hall opened and everyone's heads turned to look. Hermione rushed in, her face flushed. I groaned. "Stop the wedding. Harry is supposed to be with Ginny. He's supposed to like girls. Gays are unnatural."

Professor Dumbledore calmly waved a hand and two Aurors quickly removed the ranting Gryffindor from the Great Hall.

The doors opened again and down the aisle marched Luna with a basket of petals. She threw a handful every few steps until she reached the front row and went to sit down next to Ginny. I looked back at the entrance to the Great Hall and Harry was standing there with his hand resting on Mr. Weasley's arm. He looked sinfully delicious in white robes embroidered with silver dragons. I assumed that his robes had suddenly appeared this morning, as had mine, which matched his, only black with emerald green dragons.

When Harry reached the front of the Great Hall, he looked up at me shyly. _I love you_, I mouthed as Mr. Weasley gave Harry away.

_I love you more_, Harry mouthed back. I couldn't stop a grin from stretching across my face.

The ceremony started. It was beautiful, no one could deny that, but I wanted it to be over so I could take Harry to our rooms and have my way with him.

Before I knew it, Dumbledore was asking me if I'd have Harry for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, etc. I quickly said 'I do' and he asked Harry the same thing. Harry paused for a few seconds and my breath caught in my throat. He said 'I do' and I sighed quietly in relief. I had been a little worried.

We exchanged rings. These too had appeared with the robes. Harry's ring, which I slid onto his finger eagerly, was white gold with a dusting of miniscule rubies in a heart shape along a widened top. The ring that Harry slid onto my finger was silver with four small, round emeralds surrounding a heart shaped sapphire.

"You may now kiss the groom." Professor Dumbledore announced and I wasted no time. I pulled Harry to me and captured his lips with mine. The audience clapped and Harry pulled away blushing. "I now pronounce you husband and husband."

Harry and I cut the giant wedding cake that the house elves had made for us. The layers of chocolate and vanilla melted in my mouth, but weren't nearly as delectable as Harry's kisses. Music started playing and Harry and I had the first dance. When we finished dancing we stood off to the side of the dance floor and watched everyone enjoying themselves. I could tell by the look in Harry's eyes that he was really enjoying himself.

Ginny approached us. I tensed, unsure of the relationship between the two. "Congratulations Harry." She said happily and hugged him. I relaxed a little, but not completely until she had released my mate, and now husband. She turned to me. "Congratulations Draco." She hugged me and I tensed again, unused to anything but Harry's touches. "You two make such a great couple."

"Thanks Ginny." Harry said warmly. "I hear you and Neville are dating." She nodded, a faint blush spreading across her cheeks. "That's great. Nev's a great guy." Harry looked around the Great Hall. "Where is he?"

"He's at St. Mungo's." She said, her smile faltering slightly. "He's visiting his parents. I'm sure he'd want to be here if he knew that you were getting married, but he was already gone by the time the wedding was announced."

Harry smiled. "It's fine. He should be with his family right now."

The celebration ended well into the night. Professor Dumbledore was the last to wish us happy times and say goodbye, shortly after a crying Mrs. Weasley. "Thank you so much for doing all of this." Harry said as he hugged the headmaster.

"Not a problem Harry. I've moved all of your wedding gifts to your rooms. Enjoy the rest of your night boys." He said before leaving the Great Hall.

I kissed Harry hungrily as soon as the doors swung shut. He pulled away and laughed. "Not until we get to our rooms." He carded his fingers through my hair and kissed me softly. "I'm sure you can wait that long." He gasped and tightened his grip around my neck as I swept my arm under his knees and lifted him into my arms. "You're not going to carry me all the way to our rooms, are you?" He asked. I nodded. "But I'm too heavy."

"If anything, you are too light." I told him as we exited the Great Hall. "I need to fatten you up."

"Good luck." Harry said before pressing light kisses along my neck. "Mrs. Weasley has been trying for seven years."

We reached our rooms and I carried Harry to the bedroom. I set him on his feet and undid my robes, letting them slid from my body to the floor.

**A/N: Sorry about the wedding scene...it's not that great...  
And i'm not sure if you've noticed, but this is the second longest chapter of the entire story :D  
Oh, and I'm sorry for the slight...not really cliffhanger, but...abrupt ending... **

**I hope you liked my story. Thank you all for reading it! Hugs and Cookies for all! **


	31. Epilogue

**A/N: Here it is, the very last installment of Soul Mate. Thank you all so much for sticking through to the end. I love you all!**

**Draco's POV**

**Five Years Later**

I watched my husband and daughter napping together on the couch. Her little hands were curled around Harry's robes, and his large hand was on her back, holding her in place. Before entering the living room, I grabbed my camera and snapped a picture to add to my scrapbook.

The flash woke Harry up. He sat up groggily, cradling Cassie on his hip. "How long have I been sleeping?" He asked.

"Two hours."

"I'm sorry." Harry said as he stood. "I didn't mean to fall asleep."

I laughed. "It's okay. You've been working hard to get this party put together." I gently lifted Cassie from his arms. "You should go get dressed. People will be arriving soon."

As soon as Harry was upstairs, I cast an Anti-Wrinkling Charm on Cassie's pale yellow dress. Harry came down dressed in his dark green robes and the three of us went out to the yard. The invitations we sent out would act as Portkeys and bring our guests to the backyard.

Suddenly there were three flashes of blue light. Blaise and Luna appeared at one end of the table with their twins Orion and Selene. A few yards away stood Ron and his wife, Katy, and their son Hugo. On the other end of the table were Ginny, Neville, their son Frank and their newborn daughter Emily.

The children all went to play with the toys that we had brought out of the playroom while the adults mingled. I watched fondly as Harry conversed with Ginny, glad that the two of them were still good friends. Neville and Blaise were talking while Neville held a napping Emily.

When it was time to light the candles on the cake, I shepherded the children to the table. Harry lit the candles with his wand. Everyone sang, and before Cassie blew out the candles, I hugged her and whispered, "Happy birthday Cassiopeia Carina Malfoy."

Harry cut the cake and soon the kids were chasing each other around the yard. "I thought you said that you made a sugar-free cake."

"On our daughter's second birthday? Now why would I do that?" Harry grinned.

I laughed and kissed him softly. "You're dealing with her later then."

The party ended at around dark. Emily was beginning to get fussy, so Neville and Ginny were the first to gather their energetic child and leave. Blaise and Luna were next. Selene went to her parents peacefully, but Orion threw a fit. Blaise would have none of that, and forcefully picked his son up and Apparated home. Luna stuck around and said goodbye for the both of them before leaving as well. Ron and Katy were the last to leave. They said goodbye and then went to get Hugo from where he was playing with Cassie.

"I don't wanna leave!" He yelled as Ron tried to pick him up.

"It's already well past your bedtime, young man, so say goodbye to Cassie."

"You can't make me." Hugo yelled, crossing his small arms over his chest.

Ron looked to Katy for help. "Hugo, sweetie, if we don't leave, you'll never be able to come back here."

Hugo's blue eyes widened. "Never?"

"Never." Katy said seriously.

"Okay. Bye Cassie." He said and let his mother pick him up.

Everyone was gone and now Harry and I were faced with a grumpy toddler and a messy yard. "I'll clean this up in the morning." Harry said. I nodded and walked into the house with them. Harry carried our already sleeping daughter up to her room. When I was sure that he couldn't hear me, I called Dobby.

"What can Dobby be doing for Master Harry's Veela?"

"Could you clean up the yard for us?" Dobby nodded enthusiastically. "Wonderful, thank you. I'll leave a few Galleons on the table for you."

The house elf popped out to the backyard and I watched him for a minute before joining my family upstairs.

**A/N: The end.**


End file.
